The Biotechnology Fermentation Factory (BFF) in Ede, the Netherlands, has confirmed that its pre-pilot lab is now operational, nearly a year after the facility held its public kick-off event in June 2025.
BFF marked the milestone on June 1 with an internal team celebration, announcing that companies can now begin bringing fermentation projects to the facility. The pre-pilot lab operates at 10–30 litre scale and provides an initial entry point into BFF’s planned open-access infrastructure for precision and biomass fermentation.
Bridging the scale-up gap
BFF is structured as an open-access public-private facility on the NIZO Food Innovation Campus, allowing startups, scale-ups, and large food producers to access scale-up capacity without building their own infrastructure. The facility offers fermentation and downstream processing equipment alongside NIZO’s application labs, product development expertise, and regulatory support.
A coordinated national push
NIZO, which operates the largest open-access food-grade pilot plant in Europe and has been active in food and ingredient research since 1948, is the anchor organization for the BFF. Among the companies cited as ecosystem partners were Vivici and Mosa Meat, alongside equipment supplier GEA Group, which was awarded the contract in January 2026 to deliver and commission BFF’s precision fermentation upscaling line, with pilot operations targeted from 2027.
Nikolaas Vles, CEO of NIZO, previously stated, “The BFF is more than a building — it’s a commitment to sustainable food innovation. Together with our partners, we’re making it easier and faster for companies to bring precision fermentation products to market.”
