Agrain is a Danish food-tech company pioneering in upcycling brewers’ spent grain to create sustainable, nutritious, and flavourful ingredients for the food industry.

Founded in 2018, Agrain is at the forefront of sustainable innovation, continuously collaborating on research and development to advance upcycled food solutions that contribute to human and planetary health and keep valuable resources within the food chain.

By upcycling we give spent grains a second chance and create valuable ingredients. We make them available for people and food companies all over the world.

We make it possible and easy for our customers to create nutritious and delicious food in a more sustainable way.

Spent grain is one of the food and beverage industry's largest sidestreams, amounting to approximately 40 million tons per year. Typically, spent grain is either discarded or used for a lower value purpose, like for animal feed or biofuel.

The thing is, that after brewers extract the sugars from malted grain, the remaining grains are packed with fiber, protein, and amazing flavour. Discarding these grains is not just a waste of nutrition, but also a waste of the energy and land that was used to grow them.

By upcycling spent grain into high quality products, Agrain unlocks a delicious and circular solution to sustainable food production where valuable nutrients are used to their fullest potential, contributing to healthier diets for people and the planet.

Agrain offers ingredients and a limited range of ready-to-eat products for both B2B and private customers. The full product range for B2B can be viewed here. Private customers can view and order our B2C products directly in our webshop.

We are proud to collaborate with local Danish breweries to source spent grains. Our list of suppliers can be viewed here.

We collect fresh spent grains from local Danish breweries and gentry dry and mill them in our factory in Sjælland. After that, we use a patented algorithm to create consistent aroma and colour blends to obtain our three flour variants.

Each Agrain flour variant uses a different blend of spent grains. Depending on the variant, Agrain flours contain upcycled barley, wheat, rye, or oat spent grain.

Our flour contains approximately 50% fibre and 20% protein. You can find the complete nutritional tableS on the product pageS (webshop) or in our technical data sheets.

No. The breweries mash and malt the grains extract the sugars (starch) from the, to brew beer. After that, the grains are put aside and are not used in the fermentation process - therefore they do not come into contact with alcohol.

Almost! Let us explain.

While Agrain flour can be used as a nutritious substitute for conventional baking (wheat) flour, it does not have the same properties due to its low carbohydrate content, high fiber, and reduced gluten developing properties. Plus, it absorbs a lot more water than regular flour.

This means that the proportion of Agrain flour that can be used to substitute regular flour depends on the recipe. For example, we recommend swapping up to 10% of regular flour for Agrain flour in bread, but it can replace more as much as 50% in some cakes.

We also recommend adding more water/liquid ingredients to your recipe, and kneading for longer if you need gluten to develop.

View our recipes for instructions and inspiration here.

The main benefits include:

• More flavour & colour: malting and gentle drying gives spent grains deeper, roasted aromas and a darker colour that resembles wholegrain.
• Improved nutrition: spent grains are high in fiber, protein, and a source of important minerals like iron, magnesium and zinc.
• Better texture: higher hydration capacity can lead to softer crumbs and crunchier crusts.
• Environmental benefits: using upcycled ingredients helps to prevent food waste and reduce use of resources like land and water.

Yes, Agrain products carry the following certifications.

• IFS - Intenational food safety and quality standard
• Danish Organic
• EU Organic
• Kosher
• Upcycled Certified

Please check the product listing/packaging or consult with our team to check to which products the certifications apply.

Contact us directly and we will help to arrange your order:

Email to order@circularfoodtech.com

Call: +45 31 19 02 01 (Mon-Fri 09-16).

Please remember you need a VAT number to order industry sizes.

Yes. Find wholesalers that sell our products here.

Yes! Before doing so, we'll help you get in touch with one of our Key Account Managers in order to understand your needs and provide you with the appropriate product samples.

Please get in touch via contact@agrainproducts.com and specify:

• Name
• Position
• Company Name
• Company Registration Number
• Delivery Address

A wide range, including:

• Bread & bakery
• Cakes, cookies, & snack bars
• Pasta & noodles
• Snacks & crackers
• Plant-based meat
• Fiber-based drinks
• Cocoa-based baked goods (up to 50% cocoa powder replaced with Agrain 05)

Yes! Our R&D team have extensive experience in developing a broad range of product applications in collaboration with industry. We're always happy to assist with internal insights, the latest knowledge, and supporting further research and product testing.

Agrain products are currently available to order exclusively on our webshop.

Shipping for orders made via the webshop is available within Europe, UK and the USA.

However, if you wish your products delivered to other countries, please do not hesitate to contact us: order@circularfoodtech.com or +45 31 19 0201 (Mon-Fri 09-16).

Fill out the Cancellation Form and send us your order back. Your money will be refunded once your returned goods are received.

We'd love to hear about your experience with Agrain products, and you're always welcome to leave a review on our product pages in the webshop.

If you would like to provide more detailed feedback, or have a question about the product, we'd appreciate that you get in touch directly at contact@agrainproducts.com

Upcycling is the process of transforming sidestreams, waste materials, and unwanted products into new materials or products of higher value (i.e. in taste, quality, price, and/or function). In the case of food, upcycling involves repurposing potential ingredients that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Learn more at Upcycled Food Association.

Upcycled foods use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment.

Upcycled food can be grouped into 2 categories:

1. Alternative: repurposing ingredients that would otherwise be wasted, e.g. surplus foods like overripe bananas.
2. Novel: broadening the food resource base by introducing ingredients that are not traditionally used for human consumption, e.g. industry co-products like spent grain.

1/3 of the food produced globally goes to waste. Almost half of this is ‘lost’ between harvest and retail, and the rest ‘wasted’ in households, food service and retail. Food waste is a major emitter of greenhouse gases, generating an estimated 8-10% of global GHG emissions.

By working on the industry level, upcycling of sidestreams and production surplus is one of the most effective and efficient ways to curb food loss and waste at scale. 

Our Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) shows that compared to conventionally produced flour, Agrain spent grain flour is the most environmentally sustainable flour when all impact categories are taken into account.  

Replacing 1kg of conventional flour with Agrain flour saves 2m2 of land use. Agrain flour also saves 96% in terms of water consumption and 12% in climate change impact compared to the other flours in our LCA.

In general, using upcycled ingredients has a positive environmental impact by preventing food from going to waste.

Learn More