Brewing Palm Oil in a Lab: Tom Collier on the Future of Sustainable Ingredients with Levur
Brewing a Sustainable Future with Lab-Grown Palm Oil – Mick Liubinskas sits down with Tom Collier, CEO and co-founder of Levur, to uncover how precision fermentation is transforming the palm oil industry. Palm oil is found in 50% of supermarket products and 70% of cosmetics, yet its production is a major driver of deforestation, biodiversity loss, and carbon emissions. Levur is tackling this crisis by using synthetic biology to brew palm oil in a lab, eliminating the need for rainforest destruction. Tom shares his journey from molecular biology to entrepreneurship, the challenges of scaling biotech solutions, and why global regulations and corporate demand are accelerating the shift to sustainable alternatives. From waste-to-feedstock innovation to mass fermentation at industrial scale, this episode explores how lab-grown palm oil could reshape the future of food, cosmetics, and climate tech. 💡 Tune in to learn why regulation, consumer pressure, and cost-efficiency are aligning to drive massive change—and why sustainable solutions must not only be greener but cheaper and better to win the market!