Truly innovative products come from necessity and leave their mark on the world. Not the planet.
When we founded this company in 2014, one of our main goals was to produce a food that, in the short term, would save us time, fill us up, and keep us healthy.
But since agriculture today may cease to accommodate the growing world population within the next few decades, we also wanted something that, in the long term, would promote sustainability. Something that would be an investment in the wellbeing of our planet and future generations.
Mana is the result of energy gathered through photosynthesis, a magical process vital to life on Earth. The sun is the original source of energy on our planet, and plants harvest this energy better than anything else. Once these plants are themselves harvested, we turn them into Mana. It's the best way to eliminate food and energy inefficiency.
To put things in perspective, consider that production of 1 kilogram of plant protein for Mana is 100 times more energy-efficient than production of 1 kilogram of animal protein for other foods. The difference is night and day.
Moreover, the composition of our products is based on hard data. Every ingredient we use is thoroughly tested in our own and state-certified labs, and subject to clinical study by other global institutions, which helps us select only those ingredients that have high nutritional content relative to their ecological footprint.
For us, being considerate towards the planet means getting the most we can out of our raw materials and incorporating them into a product that is non-perishable, and therefore much less likely to be wasted. That's why our drinks and powders have long shelf lives and require no refrigeration.
Thanks to high-tech packaging and natural antioxidants, the drinks keep for 12 months from the date of manufacture and the powders keep for 18 months from the date of manufacture.
In developing our food, we strive not only to fine-tune the nutritional composition of our products and track down the most ecologically suitable raw materials, we take conscious steps to reduce packaging.
In 2018, we cut our use of paper and plastic by 20% and 50%, respectively. Thanks to patented mixing technology, we combined our oils and powdered ingredients into a single, robust substance, and scrapped the plastic oil bottles previously served with boxes of our powders.
In 2020, we saved thousands of kilos of plastic by eliminating the plastic scoops that also used to come with boxes of our powders. In their place, we now offer instructions for how to portion Mana using a simple soup spoon.
Our long-term aim is to one day manufacture products in a closed environmental loop. In other words, with no carbon footprint. To reach this lofty goal, we are constantly thinking up new ways to reduce waste and increase the environmental efficiency of our packaging and ingredients, as well as incorporate more energy from renewable sources into our manufacturing processes.
We know this is a big challenge, but it's one that will be worth the effort. Just like we would with a campsite, we want to leave this planet as clean as it was when we found it.