🎥One Bio CEO: ‘We’re making odorless, colorless, tasteless fibers that can be added to foods at uniquely high doses’

A spinoff from UC Davis, One Bio chops up polysaccharides from agricultural waste into “odorless, colorless, and tasteless” fibers that can be added to foods at high inclusion rates.

AgFunderNews caught up with CEO Matt Barnard at the Future Food-Tech summit in San Francisco to explain how the process works and when we might see the first products containing these fibers on shelf.

“We have characterized and cataloged the structures of fibers across the plant world, and the tool we use to do that can now make them available to add to almost any food or beverage,” he explained.

“Basically, the method was originally developed as an analytical tool but it’s actually scalable as a process to produce large amounts of these oligosaccharides. Working with our contract manufacturers and commercial partners, we are planning to be on shelf right around this time next year.”

Bridging the fiber gap

Founded as BCD Bioscience by Dr. Matt Amicucci, Dr. Carlito Lebrilla, Dr. Bruce German and Dr. David Mills in 2019, One Bio brought in Barnard, cofounder of vertical farming firm Plenty, as cofounder and CEO in 2023.

One Bio’s core technology is a chemical method for disassembling polysaccharides (longer-chain carbs) from thousands of plants and microbes into “invisible and tasteless” oligosaccharides.

This will enable formulators to add meaningful amounts of fiber to products at levels that were previously out of reach because the fiber content made the end product unpalatable, claimed Barnard.

“We’re seeing more conversations about the microbiome as the engine of health, and we are starving our microbiome. We’re talking about adding simple fibers like oat fiber, olive fiber, orange fiber, and apple fiber that through our tech we can add to food at very high inclusion rates.”