New plant-based meat has more in common with Sunday barbecues than you might think
The alternative protein sector, known for its innovations, is now betting on an ancient technique to produce food and drinks for Bruna Corsato The alternative protein sector is recognized for its disruptive technologies, from cell cultivation to create animal muscle and fat to 3D-printed meat cuts. Improving available techniques and coming out ahead with the next innovation that enhances the consumer experience has launched plant-based companies into a veritable race for the plant-based holy grail. However, what is gaining more and more space in this scenario is not exactly a new discovery: it is fermentation. Despite being an ancient production technique and widely used in the production of various foods and beverages, from bread to beer, including tempeh and kimchi, its application in the creation of foods that mimic animal meat is relatively recent and still has many opportunities to be explored. Fermentation continues to be what is taught in schools: a process in which microorganisms transform organic matter into other products and energy. In other words, it is the way these beings find to produce energy to perform their biological functions. What makes it attractive to companies in the sector is its versatility, low cost and, above all, its results. Through this technique, it is possible to deliver flavor, texture and appearance very similar to animal products, a requirement that is increasingly present among flexitarian consumers. Learn about the different fermentation processes: Traditional fermentation uses bacteria and fungi, a group that includes molds and yeasts, to process plant-based ingredients into foods with enhanced flavor and texture. This is the case with tofu and tempeh, both made from fermented soybeans. Cheeses and yogurts also go through the same process, both those of animal and plant origin. Plant biomass is also an excellent raw material/substrate for fermentation, providing a quick and efficient way to produce large quantities of protein-rich foods. In the concept of biomass fermentation, filamentous fungi develop and produce mycoprotein or mycelial protein, a fungal biomass similar to a filament. This filament has a high protein content and will give rise to meat analogues with a texture similar to meat. Mycelium Protein The name sounds novel, but mycelium is nothing more than the fan of thin, root-like structures that fungi and mushrooms form underground as they grow. Micellar protein is making a big impact on the plant-based protein industry due to its efficiency, resulting in large quantities of protein at low costs when compared to other forms of plant-based meat production. The process takes place in rotating chambers that feed the fungus with a nutrient solution for its development, usually containing sugar and a plant-based raw material such as wheat, soy, peas, and many others. After just a few days, the mycelium is ready to be harvested in large quantities over the next few weeks or even months. The mycoprotein is then frozen to bind its long roots, which give the final product a meat-like texture. Finally, mycelial protein can be molded into various types of plant-based meat. Another great advantage is its malleability and versatility. Mycelium could be the solution to mimic texture and deliver whole cuts of meat through the formation of its structures, thus solving one of the biggest challenges currently faced by the alternative protein industry. The international scenario There are already several foodtechs venturing into fermentation in different forms and also betting on micellar protein as the new plant-based revolution. Discover some brands: Meati Foods – Produces chicken, steak and vegetable sausages from mycelium. The North American company is conducting market tests in selected restaurants to achieve similar prices for the animal product and begin selling them in 2022. Nourish Ingredients – The Australian company uses precision fermentation to produce animal-free fats used to enhance the flavor and palatability of plant-based products. Nature's Fynd – the foodtech company received £250 million in funding this year, making it the most valuable mycoprotein startup in the world. MycoTechnology – uses fermentation as a tool to increase the healthiness of food, reducing the amount of salt, fat and sugar, transforming fungi into a flavor enhancer. These block bitterness receptors on the tongue, minimizing the bad taste of artificial sweeteners like aspartame. Precision fermentation is another process where fermentation concepts are applied, but in this case, microbial hosts are used as “cell factories” to produce proteins and other functional ingredients such as fats, aromas, vitamins, pigments that allow the production of products similar to meat, eggs, dairy products, seafood and much more. This technology has the ability to transform microorganisms into cell factories for the production of specific functional ingredients. These functional ingredients are important in improving the sensory and functionality characteristics of plant-based products. Some examples are: Perfect Day – produces dairy proteins through a precision fermentation process. These proteins are identical to those found in milk, but they are a protein that does not come from the animal to be obtained. They are used in the production of dairy products made from plants, giving them characteristics similar to dairy products of animal origin Impossible Foods – which produces leghemoglobin protein that gives the appearance of blood and taste of meat to the burger made from plants. What about Brazil? Around here, alternative proteins produced from fermentation are still a fairly new conversation. The country's rich biodiversity can once again prove to be a great advantage if used strategically. "One of the advantages of investing in fermentation in Brazil is precisely the fact that the country is a major agricultural powerhouse and has several sources of domestic plant-based proteins to be explored," explains Luciana Fontinelle, science and technology specialist at GFI Brazil. "Often these sources present technological and/or sensory barriers to their use in the production of plant-based products."
GFI Releases First Report on Alternative Protein Fermentation
Cultured and plant-based meat are recognized as two main pillars of the alternative protein industry. However, fermentation is emerging as an important technology for the sector. New applications of fermentation as a primary protein source and as an enabler for plant-based or cultured products show incredible promise for the future of alternative proteins. To highlight the potential impact of fermentation, The Good Food Institute is launching the first in-depth analysis of the science of fermentation, as well as issues of entrepreneurship, policy and investment. The report looks at key ways fermentation is used in alternative proteins, the competitive landscape, ingredient applications, investment trends, innovation opportunities, a regulatory primer, new charts and figures. What is fermentation and how is it being used? Fermentation – the use of fungi, bacteria, mycelium, microalgae and other microbes as a bioproduction platform – has a long history in food production. Beer, sourdough bread, kimchi, and many familiar staples exist thanks to rudimentary fermentation methods. Modern technology has enabled these microbes to create functional food processing agents and ingredients such as enzymes in recent decades. For example, fermentation-derived chymosin has replaced rennet (formerly derived from the stomachs of calves) as the primary coagulant in modern cheese production. Most people today regularly consume products that rely on fermentation. Fermentation is also already enabling the next generation of animal-free meats, eggs and dairy products, with a radically lower environmental burden than livestock farming. In addition to industry-pioneering Quorn’s mycoprotein-based meats, new products like Perfect Day’s ice cream, Impossible Burger’s heme iron and Meati’s steak are opening up a new class of alternatives to industrial animal products. “Given the breadth of applications, we believe fermentation can solve many of the current challenges faced by alternative proteins. On the one hand, biomass fermentation can create clean, nutritious proteins in a highly efficient and low-cost way. On the other hand, the potential of precision fermentation to produce value-added, highly functional and nutritious ingredients is very exciting and could revolutionize the plant-based category,” said Rosie Wardle, investor at venture capital firm CPT Capital. With fermentation quickly establishing itself as the next pillar of the alternative protein industry, GFI’s Fermentation Report is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the future of food. Highlights include: Category segmentation into traditional fermentation, biomass and precision fermentation; Cataloguing of 44 fermentation companies with an exclusive or predominant focus on alternative proteins, half of which were formed in 2019 and the first half of 2020. 24 additional companies have initiatives in the sector, such as MycoTechnology with its new line of animal-free meats; Aggregate $837 million in venture capital invested in dedicated alternative protein fermentation companies from some of the world’s leading investors, food companies and governments. $274 million was invested in 2019 and $435 million was invested in the first seven months of 2020 alone – 85% of all-time funding; Development of a value chain framework for technological innovation opportunities in target molecule selection, host strain development, bioprocess design, purification and formulation, and manufacturing of final products; Analysis of the impact of this technology on global health, sustainability and food security and predictions for the future; Thomas Jonas, CEO of Nature's Fynd, says the industry was in need of this technology. “For the first time, someone articulated a broad, sectoral vision of the space and clarified the different types of fermentations. GFI's work will put on the map a fact that people have completely missed: fermentation is quickly becoming the number one technology in terms of investment in new proteins. The reasoning is simple: fermentation is more efficient and markets hate inefficiencies.” Download now! Text: Nate Crosser and Liz Specht