Fermentation

The fact that high-quality proteins can now be generated from biomass such as soya beans, for instance, but also from various secondary streams of plant processing, is well known and is already being undertaken on a large scale under the name biomass fermentation. The most industrious helpers in the bioreactors originate from the realm of fungi. Their mycelium permeates the biomass at high speed. It is only a matter of hours before they double their weight. In doing so, they recycle the substrate and use it to build up valuable proteins.

The most familiar result of this is Quorn – a meat substitute product from the company of the same name that was swallowed up by the Philippine Monde Nissin Group in 2015. Fears that mankind was heading towards a lack of protein-rich nutrition emerged back in the 1960s. Researchers therefore embarked on a search for microorganisms and found what they were looking for in soil samples. They discovered the sac fungus Fusarium venenatum. It is cultivated in a glucose solution and then processed into a food.

Although the opportunities offered by biomass fermentation are enormous, they are limited by biology, because the various microorganisms can only produce what nature enables them to. Precision fermentation breaks with this paradigm. The reason for this is that the minute helpers are adapted and programmed so that they produce very specific substances. This is made possible by biotechnological processes that can be used to modify the microorganisms’ genetic material. If, for instance, the gene responsible for producing rennet in cattle is inserted into a common intestinal bacterium of the Escherichia coli species, the bacterium is transformed into a rennet factory.

Unlike in biomass fermentation, the focus here is not on the mass. Instead, this process is aimed at obtaining tailored proteins. Milk protein, for example, or egg protein. This can then be used to match the taste and texture of the alternative foods even more closely to those of the animal-based original. Thanks to the latest genetic engineering procedures such as the CRISPR/Cas gene scissors, advances in synthetic biology and the increasing support of algorithms from the field of artificial intelligence, the possibilities here are virtually unlimited.

Classic biomass and precision fermentation have one aspect in common – they necessitate plant-based raw materials that are converted by the microbes. Might it be possible to do without them? Yes, it might. By using true evolutionary survival artists. Archaea, for instance. Some of these microorganisms, which are referred to in the vernacular as ‘primordial bacteria’, simply build their proteins from the air. To be more accurate, they combine the gases carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen as well as a few trace elements to form amino acids – the building blocks of proteins. This is the approach chosen by the Austrian FoodTec start-up Arkeon. Finland’s Solar Foods is also taking such an approach. Their product is called Solein. According to the manufacturer, it not only enables the earth’s resources to be used responsibly, but also allows you to reach for the stars, the reason being that the Finns are also thinking about launching gas fermentation to supply manned missions to space.

But which type of fermentation is helpful when it comes to the protein transition? The answer is simple: all of them. Classically fermented foods can still enrich and extend our diets, particularly when we think of delicacies from faraway countries.
Biomass fermentation can supply large quantities of proteins. It can provide a basis for meat substitute products and also upcycle the agricultural industry’s not quite so high-quality secondary streams, such as the press cakes that occur during oil extraction. In turn, precision fermentation can supply ingredients to further optimise the taste and texture of plant-based alternatives. And gas fermentation could actually completely decouple the food supply from agriculture – at least wherever it makes sense to do so.

Numerous analysts see alternative proteins as a growing market segment. There are now over 120 companies around the world that rely on fermentation, ten of which are based in Germany. We have picked a few of them and will briefly introduce them here.

Quorn, the product made by the company of the same name, was launched onto the market in the United Kingdom back in 1985. Sac fungi of the Fusarium venenatum species produce proteins for it. These are subsequently bound with albumin from chicken eggs and enriched with vitamins and minerals. They are then shaped and make their way into frying pans and onto plates as vegetarian meat substitutes. Ownership of the veteran on the alternative proteins market changed hands in 2015, with the company now belonging to the Philippine food group Monde Nissin.
www.quorn.ph

Germany’s PHW Group, the well-known poultry meat market leader, is also active in the alternative protein sources business segment. The company has established its own product line for vegan meat substitutes under the Green Legend label. These are based on proteins from domestic crops such as wheat, field beans or peas.
www.phw-gruppe.de/en / www.green-legend.com

Since 2011, the Californian company Impossible Foods really has been attempting the impossible – to produce a burger patty made entirely from plant-based ingredients that is just as good as its animal-based counterpart. In its endeavours, the company has identified haem as the key. This molecule enables blood to bind oxygen and transport it in the body. According to the company’s researchers, it is also what gives meat its taste. They have therefore genetically reprogrammed a yeast which now generates the haem protein from plants. The burger patty is already established on the fast food market outside of Europe. The company has so far failed to gain a foothold in Europe due to the EU’s genetic engineering laws.
www.impossiblefoods.com

In Berlin’s renowned Technology Park Adlershof, Nosh.bio is regarded as a rising star. The FoodTec start-up’s protagonist is a filamentous fungus that grows in the company’s glass bioreactors, where it feeds on maltose extract and can be harvested after just one to two days. Its proteins are intended as the basic raw material for the food industry, where they are used, for instance, to shape meat substitute products and lend them stability. The major advantage from the start-up’s perspective is that the fungus has already been approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which should vastly simplify their business.
www.nosh.bio

Mushlabs, which now goes by the name of Infinite Roots, also has its roots in Adlershof. Fungi also play an important role in this start-up, which was founded back in 2018. The specifically developed fermentation platform is intended to make them the protein supplier and food of the future, according to the company’s vision. The fungal mycelium is inoculated in fermenters on secondary streams from the agricultural and food industry. The harvest can then be processed to form sustainable meat alternatives.
www.mushlabs.com / www.infiniteroots.com

The Formo team is focused on all kinds of dairy products. Cheese, yoghurt and quark, all without cows, are what the Berlin-based start-up is committed to, for which it relies on genetically modified microorganisms. With the right gene sequence in their DNA, they are able to produce whey and casein proteins. In the bioreactor, this results in a liquid which is mixed with vegetable fat and subjected to a cheese production process.
formo.bio