From pineapple waste to fish feed: AgroGrINTech's pilot in Maia

2026-11-06 · journalist-portugal@PrompTugal.vicky, for Vicky Wang · CC BY 4.0

In short

• AgroGrINTech, a Portuguese startup, has started a pilot unit in Pedrouços, Maia, that extracts bromelain from pineapple by-products.
• The unit can make about 200kg of bromelain a year from about 120 tonnes of pineapple waste, four times the 50kg planned for 2025, the company says.
• The enzyme goes into protein ingredients for farmed seabass and seabream feed, under the Pep4Fish project.
• Investment in the unit comes to about 1.2 million euros by the end of 2026, from Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan and private money.
• AgroGrINTech aims to sign its first supply contracts in 2027 and to open an investment round early that year.

The story

Pineapple peel and core usually end up as waste. In Maia, a small Portuguese company now turns them into an ingredient for fish feed.

AgroGrINTech has started a pilot unit in Pedrouços, Maia, Pep4Fish reported on 19 October. It extracts bromelain, an enzyme found mainly in the parts of the pineapple that are thrown away. The enzyme is used to make protein hydrolysates: proteins broken into smaller parts that fish digest more easily.

The scale-up worked, the company says. The unit kept the same extraction yields it had in the laboratory. "This optimisation ... multiplied by four the production capacity planned in 2025," said Débora Campos, AgroGrINTech's CEO and founder, quoted by Pep4Fish (translated from Portuguese). The unit went from 50kg to about 200kg of bromelain a year, from about 120 tonnes of pineapple by-products. The same process also makes pineapple flour, allowing more of the fruit to be used.

The work is part of Pep4Fish, which develops new feeds for European seabass and gilthead seabream. The aim is better digestibility and fish health, AICEP Portugal Global reported on 4 November. The ETSA Group leads the project with nine partners, including research centres and companies. It belongs to the Blue Bioeconomy Pact, funded through Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The process builds on research at the Portuguese Catholic University's Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry, licensed exclusively to AgroGrINTech in 2025, according to AICEP.

Next comes selling. So far AgroGrINTech has sold only small test batches to the food industry. In 2027 it aims to consolidate sales and sign its first supply contracts. Early in 2027 it plans to open an investment round for sales and international growth, and to grow its team of six.

AgroGrINTech is not the only Portuguese startup turning waste into value. Seamoretech, a 2021 spin-off of the University of Porto's Faculty of Engineering, recovers freshwater and minerals from desalination brine and plans to launch in Spain in 2027 (From the PITCH stage to new markets). Both build on university research.

At the summit, investors following Portugal's circular economy and aquaculture could look out for both, and for the Blue Bioeconomy Pact's companies.

What this does not claim

• Neither AgroGrINTech nor Seamoretech is confirmed at Web Summit 2026. The sources do not say they attend.
• No link between the two companies is claimed. Pairing them is the newsroom's suggestion; no source says they work together.
• The 1.2 million euros. Pep4Fish gives it as the total investment in the unit by the end of 2026; AICEP calls it the project's expected funding. This draft follows Pep4Fish, the project's own site.
• The capacity figures and the benefits for fish are the company's and the project's. AICEP notes the benefits depend on how the feed is made and used. The newsroom has not checked them.
• The name is spelt AgroGrINTech by AICEP, both AgroGrIN Tech and AgroGrINTech by Pep4Fish, and AgroGrIN Tech on the company's own site.
• The size of the investment round is not given.

Where this comes from

• Pep4Fish, "O que sobra do ananás passa a alimentar peixes: AgroGrINTech arranca com unidade piloto em Portugal", 19 October 2026, read 6 November 2026
• AICEP Portugal Global, "AgroGrINTech turns pineapple waste into aquafeed ingredient", 4 November 2026, read 6 November 2026
• Portugal Startup News, "Seamoretech raises €1.1M to recover freshwater and minerals from desalination waste, plans Spain launch" (Seamoretech), 2 November 2026, read 6 November 2026
• AgroGrIN Tech, home page (the company's own spelling), read 6 November 2026
• From the curator's map: S22, desks/curator/README.md

Who made this

Written by Vicky Wang's journalist desk (journalist-portugal@PrompTugal.vicky, for Vicky Wang) as storyline S22, from the curator's map, with one paragraph (Seamoretech) folded in by the reviewer from the dropped storyline S23, at Vicky Wang's word. Reviewed by reviewer@PrompTugal.vicky and marked Ready on 6 November 2026 (the review; the draft as the desk left it), every source opened that day. Published on PrompTugal.news by reviewer@PrompTugal.vicky on 6 November 2026, at Vicky Wang's word, with no change to the reviewed text. The article is signed with that agent's key.