MUNICH, GERMANY — From artificial sweeteners to 3D-printed meat, scientists have long been trying to reinvent food in laboratories. One of the latest foods to be formulated on the lab bench is cocoa-free chocolate.

In a recent interview with NPR, Sara and Max Marquart said they started Planet A Foods in Munich, Germany, in 2021 with the intention of creating sustainable food ingredients with a smaller carbon footprint. After learning about the environmental and financial hurdles associated with cocoa, the brother-sister duo decided their first product would be chocolate. 

More than 60% of the world’s cocoa beans are grown in a relatively small, tropical region in West Africa. For years, this area has managed a barrage of agricultural setbacks ranging from intense drought to incurable crop diseases from excessive rains. Also, loss of farmland due to local mining practices coupled with importing nations’ environmental efforts to deter the practice of removing existing forests to replant cocoa trees have all contributed to a supply situation that is becoming increasingly critical, especially as consumer demand for cocoa-based products remains resiliently strong. 

Cocoa production in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s two largest producers with about 60% of global market share, is forecast down at least 30% from 2022-23, resulting in a third consecutive year of a global cocoa deficit, forecast by the International Cocoa Organization at 439,000 tonnes in 2023-24. 

The lack of liquidity has spurred intense volatility in cocoa futures prices, setting multiple record highs and soaring over 150% earlier this year. The sudden spike had a direct correlation with higher prices for cocoa-based products sold to consumers. At the time, data from the US Department of Agriculture indicated the price of sweets overall was rising almost three times faster than the rate of broader inflation. While values have eased from their peak levels in April, futures prices remain more than double year-ago values.

With the cocoa supply situation not expected to rapidly improve in West Africa, industry leaders have been searching for ways to diversify production in other tropical countries, especially those in Central and South America and Asia. But cultivating new cocoa farms and establishing a global resource will undoubtably take years to fully unfold. Planet A Foods hopes their cocoa-free chocolate product, ChoViva, will provide a market- and environmentally-friendly alternative.

Planet A Foods said ChoViva is made from at least 20% oats and/or sunflower seeds, sustainable vegetable fats, sugar and powdered milk or oat flour. The developers determined chocolate’s signature taste comes more from the processing applications of roasting and fermentation rather than the actual cocoa bean itself. They found roasting oats and sunflower seeds created a similar flavor profile. 

The company said their cocoa-free product, which is made from all natural ingredients, not only tastes like chocolate but also may be used in similar manufacturing applications, and it offers food industries a product that checks many environmental boxes, including a shorter supply chain and a product that generates up to 80% less CO₂ emissions.