What will it take to make the economics of precision fermentation stack up for a wider range of bioproducts such that they can compete with low-margin, high volume products derived from petrochemicals or industrialized animal agriculture?
Right now, a handful of microbial workhorses do the bulk of the work in biomanufacturing. But do we need to domesticate a new generation of hosts for the next generation of bioproducts?
The race is on to develop ‘designer’ fats for the next generation of food products. But will fats & oils produced by microbes in fermentation tanks ever be a scalable proposition?
Like many players in the space, The Vegetarian Butcher has been exploring clean label binders that can serve as alternatives to egg white and methylcellulose in meat alternatives.
The partnership gives New Culture access to “some of the largest and most sophisticated fermentation facilities on the planet.”
Shiru has also developed AI and ML-based models to predict protein expression in microbial systems, helping firms determine the most cost effective way to produce target proteins at scale.
Caladan Bio has developed a lower-cost benchtop bioreactor system designed to enhance data capture and increase experimentation throughput.
According to Olon, it is owed $112m in unpaid manufacturing fees, unreimbursed CapEx, raw materials costs and other costs, plus an estimated $32m in damages resulting from Perfect Day’s alleged fraud.
If the marketing of whey from fermentation is too narrowly focused on the ‘animal-free’ aspect, it potentially limits the market, says Netherlands-based startup Vivici.
By producing it in fermentation tanks using microbial strains optimized by Triplebar Bio, FrieslandCampina Ingredients hopes to to unlock new markets for lactoferrin.
Cauldron believes a continuous fermentation process will be key to unlocking the commercial viability of microbial fermentation for a host of ingredients that have historically been sourced from animals or petrochemicals.
Making dairy without cows is cleaner, greener and kinder, says Bon Vivant. But is it commercially viable?
According to the new definition, precision fermentation combines the process of traditional fermentation with the latest advances in biotechnology.
The Breyers launch comes hot on the heels of Nestlé’s ‘Better Whey’ product from Orgain, which features whey protein made by microbes in fermentation tanks instead of cows.
Vivici has been able to move unusually rapidly by leveraging its founders’ expertise in dairy proteins and industrial-scale biomanufacturing, says CEO Stephan van Sint Fiet.
According to its CEO: “We still have quite a bit of runway as we’ve been very lean. Part of that is because we’ve never invested in large-scale production capacity [in-house] and we’ve never entered the B2C world.”
Phytolon aims to launch natural colors produced by genetically engineered baker’s yeast in the US this year, pending regulatory approvals.
The Israeli startup expects products containing its animal-free whey protein to launch in the US within the year.
It also teased “a major CPG partner launch” with its whey from fermentation and said it would unveil “new molecules which will bring the impact of precision fermentation to more products and markets.”
Here are some of highlights (and a few low lights😉) from 2023, plus some areas to watch in 2024, from designer probiotics to livestock methane reduction.
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