The Clean Food Group has established a dedicated lab on campus where Chris and a multi-disciplinary team are ramping up to industrial-scale production. His vision is to have this palm oil substitute in supermarket products within five years. “To get to this point, you need the work of chemists, biologists, engineers and food scientists,” he adds. “We have the networks and expertise at Bath, which is why we have so much impactful research.”

Along the way, this work has also sparked other novel solutions, such as turning waste coffee grounds into biodiesel and using seaweed to produce plastic. “My research is all about addressing the need for more sustainable products by looking at what we have now and finding where the gaps are,” Chris explains. “The yeast we’ve created is so versatile that we could eventually create foods with new flavours, textures and nutritional profiles – the future of food is really exciting.”