Cellcomb: The EIC Accelerator Food Pad That Made It to Biedronka

The small pad under a tray of minced meat or chicken fillets is usually a mix of plastic film, fluff pulp and synthetic superabsorbent polymer, and it ends up in the incinerator. Cellcomb AB, a maker of disposable cellulose laminates in Säffle in western Sweden, set out to replace it with a pad made only of paper fibre. The European Commission picked its CellSorb project in the 9 October 2019 cut-off of the EIC Accelerator pilot, with grant-only funding and no partner companies listed. CORDIS records an EU contribution of €2,303,114.63 towards a total cost of €3,290,163.75, for a project that ran from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022.

Four years after the project closed, the pad is on sale as Cellsorb Circular, certified compostable and recyclable with paper, and the Polish grocery chain Biedronka uses it in pork packs. The commercial forecast attached to the grant has not come true: the proposal promised a fivefold growth of the business and EBITDA of €12.1 million by 2026, while the company's 2025 accounts show revenue of SEK 132.9 million and EBITDA of SEK 5.5 million, according to Ratsit.

Where Cellcomb Stands Now

Cellcomb is an active, profitable mid-sized manufacturer. The Swedish credit agencies Syna and Ratsit list the company as active, with 2025 revenue of SEK 132.9 million (up 15.8% on 2024) and a net result of SEK 42,000. Hitta.se gives an operating profit of SEK 8.8 million, equity of SEK 25.5 million and 48 employees for 2025, but a slightly higher revenue figure of SEK 135.3 million; the gap is not explained on either page. The board includes Christer Simrén, a former chief operating officer of BillerudKorsnäs, and Magnus Wikström, its former chief technology officer, according to the company's board page; Syna lists the same directors from the register.

In June 2025 Cellcomb's parent company bought Fatex Oy, a family-owned maker of protective sheets, bibs and wash gloves for patient care in Kronoby, Finland. The press release says the deal was made through "Löftet Holding AB" and that the group would have annual sales of about SEK 300 million and about 90 staff; Fatex's own website confirms that since 2025 Cellcomb is its sister company. Ratsit, however, names the parent as Cellcomb Holding AB, a group of three companies; whether these are the same entity under two names could not be verified from free sources. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The Technology: A Meat Pad Without Plastic or Superabsorbent

About 90% of food pads use synthetic superabsorbent polymers such as sodium polyacrylate, the CORDIS report of Cellcomb's 2019 feasibility study says, because they absorb the most liquid for the money. Mixed with plastic film and pulp, they cannot be recycled. Cellcomb's existing Cellsorb pads already sealed the absorbent core inside a pouch on all four sides, so that it does not touch the food. The EIC project was meant to make the whole pad from renewable material.

The proposal described a pad of bioplastics with a new "micro cellulose" superabsorbent made from pulp. What came out of the project was simpler. The final periodic report says the core became a mix of chemi-thermomechanical pulp (CTMP) and cellulose pulp, which absorbed better than pure pulp, inside a pouch of paper with enough wet strength to hold together without blocking paper recycling. The resulting patent, granted in the United States on 7 October 2025 as US 12,434,896 B2, claims a pad in which all materials are "natural and cellulose based", with no SAP or PLA; its European counterpart, EP 4291508 B1, was granted on 14 January 2026, a publication also recorded by North Data.

Whether a pure-fibre core matches a superabsorbent pad on absorption per gram, and at what price, is not documented in any independent test that could be found. The company's product page lists the pad as free of superabsorbents, compostable under EN 13432 and recyclable, and available for vacuum and modified-atmosphere packs.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What the Record Shows

CellSorb ran to plan on paper: CORDIS lists it as closed on its original end date of 31 March 2022, with a final report covering April 2021 to March 2022. A four-month feasibility study from May to August 2019, funded with €50,000 under the same SME Instrument topic, came first, according to CORDIS. The final report lists what was achieved: a food-certified pad, certification for industrial compostability under EN 13432 with the Seedling and DIN symbols, approval for paper recycling, two machine upgrades (a splicing unit and a tension control system) and presentations to "at least 40 serious customers".

The proposal also set commercial targets that are now due. The project objective said Cellcomb expected "around 20% share of the European food pad industry by 2026", growth of the business "5-fold" and EBITDA of €12.1 million by 2026, and that the micro-cellulose material would later move into diapers, feminine hygiene and wound care. No market share figure has been published by the company or any third party. Revenue rose from SEK 107.0 million in 2021 to SEK 132.9 million in 2025, a 24% increase according to Ratsit, and EBITDA was SEK 5.5 million in 2025. No hygiene or wound care product using the new material has been announced.

1. Compostable, renewable food padDeliveredCellsorb Circular, EN 13432 certified, per the CORDIS report and product page.
2. Micro-cellulose superabsorbent from pulpPartlyReplaced by a CTMP and pulp core; no superabsorbent made.
3. Commercial launch with food packersDeliveredBiedronka pork packs, 2024.
4. 20% of the European food pad market by 2026Not achievedNo share figure published by anyone.
5. Fivefold growth, €12.1M EBITDA by 2026Not achievedRevenue +24% 2021 to 2025; EBITDA SEK 5.5M.
6. Diapers, hygiene and wound care usesNot achievedNo such product announced.

What Came After the Grant

The clearest commercial result is a retail customer. In May 2024 Cellcomb announced that Biedronka, which it called a European food retail chain, was replacing its old absorbers with Cellsorb Circular, cutting 55 tonnes of plastic a year by the retailer's estimate, with Cellcomb's partner Enverde involved in development, according to the company's announcement. The Polish technology site Spider's Web reported in July 2024 that Biedronka had put the all-cellulose "Cellsorb Paper Pad" into vacuum-packed pork and gave the same 55-tonne figure. How many pads Biedronka buys, and which other packers use the product, is not public.

In March 2025 the company said Cellsorb Circular had also been certified for home composting, according to its news page, which calls it the company's fastest-growing pad. In October 2025 Cellcomb renamed its older Cellsorb ECO pad to Cellsorb CORE "to create clearer and more transparent communication", while describing the Circular version as its most requested absorbent, according to a second announcement. The company does not publish what share of its sales comes from food pads as opposed to its larger range of bed protection and hospital disposables.

The accounts show a company that grew modestly and stayed close to break-even. Ratsit's figures show a net loss of SEK 5.4 million in 2022, the year the project ended, and small profits since. Equity rose from SEK 23.6 million in 2023 to SEK 25.5 million in 2025, while long-term debt fell from SEK 26.3 million in 2024 to SEK 18.9 million in 2025, according to Hitta.se. North Data lists two Swedish regional investment aid awards in 2025, of SEK 4,739,341 and SEK 8,901,000; what they paid for is not stated there.

Cellcomb has one other EU project on CORDIS. It is a partner in MIRIA, a Horizon Europe project coordinated by RINA Consulting from June 2022 to May 2026 to develop antimicrobial, antiviral and antifungal nanocoatings, with a net EU contribution of €293,125 for Cellcomb. North Data lists the same amount. No product from it has been announced. The EIC Fund portfolio, checked across all 16 pages, does not list Cellcomb, which fits a grant-only award. No outside equity round has been reported.

Why It Matters for Europe

The EU's packaging rules now push in Cellcomb's direction. Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste aims to make "all packaging on the EU market recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030", according to the European Commission, and has applied since 12 August 2026, according to ComplianceGate, which also notes that from 2030 packaging must reach recyclability grades A, B or C. Most food pads are multi-material products in which swollen superabsorbent prevents recycling and composting, leaving incineration as the only route, Cellcomb's final CORDIS report argues; it estimated that more than 3,000 tonnes of plastic would be avoided if all of Europe's food pads were of the Circular type. That figure is the company's own and has not been checked independently. The pads are developed and made at the company's own plant in Sweden, according to its company page.

The Verdict

Cellcomb and the EIC were not asked for comment for this article. It is based on public records and published statements, linked throughout.