Milk-fat substitute wins Rethink Protein Challenge, pegged as alternative protein “game changer”

28 Jun 2021 --- Team Cultivated has won the 2021 Rethink Protein Challenge hosted by Wageningen University and Research (WUR) in the “most demanding” Prototyping category. The team scored the main prize of €6,000 (US$7,162) with its dairy-fat alternative produced with precision yeast fermentation. 

In the Ideation category, Team AlgO convinced the jury of its idea to cultivate microalgae on waste streams, netting the team €3,000 (US$3,581) in prize money.

For the second time, WUR has organized the student competition to stimulate new ideas on how to address the ballooning global population’s increasing demand for sustainable protein. 

Following the Grand Finale winners’ announcement, FoodIngredientFirst spoke with several event participants about how the teams aim to further develop their ideas despite the challenge coming to an end.

And the winner is...
The winning team Cultivated was one of two teams to propose proteins for dairy alternatives from genetically engineering yeast organisms.

Julia Martin and Tomas Turner aim to produce a lipid ingredient identical to milk fat through yeast precision fermentation. Production will rely on side-streams from food processing companies, further reducing the resource, land and energy requirements in the production of alternative dairy. 

Team Cultivated now plans on scaling up its milk-fat alternative ingredient having scored first place in the Prototyping category.“Since the very beginning, the project has changed enormously, especially when I got to know [Martin] through the Rethink Protein Challenge,” Turner told FoodIngredientsFirst. “Her expertise has really changed the way we work.” 

Martin has a double Master of Science in Consumer Studies and Food Technology at WUR, currently doing her thesis in food lipids in the Food Chemistry department at WUR. 

Turner worked for the Swiss plant-based meat start-up Planted and is currently finishing his Master of Science thesis on lipid production in yeast at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Planning on scale-up outside of the competition
The team went into the challenge with a two-year R&D plan – regardless if they would win or not. Equipped with the €6,000 (US$7,162) in prize money, the plan is to secure a stable laboratory and a long-term partner.

“The idea is now to get angel investment or true funding or through partnerships,” Martin reveals. While the research duo is contemplating setting up their future lab in either the Netherlands or in Switzerland, they are also seeking a third co-founder. 

“We are currently looking for someone to take the lead on for the fermentation and bioprocessing, which we still need someone to fill.”

Winners Martin and Turner from team Cultivated are looking for a third partner to join their business.Rubber seeds for tempeh
Competing in the Ideation category, team Propers secured second place with their concept of turning rubber seeds into tempeh, targeting Indonesian Millennial consumers. 

The underutilized tropical resource could provide an alternative for the Indonesian tempeh industry, which is facing a “soybean supply crisis.” Critically, tempeh consumption in Indonesia is three times higher than beef.

Hilbrands called the team’s proposal an “extremely good pitch” with a “clear sustainability angle.”

WUR master student Bagoes Inderaja tells FoodIngredientsFirst his team faced particular challenges regarding importing rubber seeds from Indonesia, legal permits and transport logistics, all while following standard university classes.

“Especially in COVID-19 times, it is not that really easy,” he shares. “We feel lucky because [the other contestants] have really good ideas. Above all else, we tried our best.”

Team member Hayah Afifah also shares that Propers also decided in advance to “go beyond the challenge” regardless of the outcome. “We really want to make this happen as a business. What is more important is that the journey has been really enjoyable for all of us.”

Not tech-savvy enough?
One of the teams, Pemla Forest Foods, was particularly popular with the online event audience, but not selected into the top three. 

“We knew that it was a tough challenge. Looking at the competition, I think perhaps our concept is not as tech-savvy as some of the others,” Jeffrey Thimm tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “Our approach is much more about promoting regenerative agriculture and establishing a food processing that sources from these types of farmers.”

Pemla’s solution for the protein transition is carbon-negative, protein-rich nut flours sourced from regenerative agroforestry. The team’s focus on agroforestry connects diets to agroecosystems that sequester carbon, support biodiversity and strengthen Albanian agrarian communities.

“It’s a little bit more kind of social tech than high tech. That’s my gut feeling,” Thimm comments. He shares his project also aims to continue to work with small farmers and “go cooperative.” Some goals include organic certification and bolstering market creation. 

Team AlgO won in the Ideation category for their proposal to rescue nutrients from the F&B industry’s “extreme” effluents.Rules of the game
The challenge initially attracted 49 teams from 41 universities in 18 countries, of which 12 made it to the finale. The Ideation category demanded a concrete business idea, while Prototyping teams also had to present an actual prototype product.

Other teams’ interpretations of ushering in the protein transition varied from mushrooms to nuts and larvae and maggots. Upcycling ingredients and by-products from various food sectors was a popular theme, with ideas including tomato and pig liver. 

The stream was watched by 162 people, of which 53 percent voted the Blue Chitin team as the crowd favorite. They presented a feed additive for fish feed made with waste from the shrimp industry.

Tough call for the jury
Composed of high-level representatives from DSM, Lely, Bayer, Avebe, IFF and GEA, the jury not only critiqued the protein concepts based on innovation and sustainability criteria, but also their feasibility in terms of scalability, technicality and economic viability.

“We had a difficult time choosing between the contestants, also because of the large variety, which made head-to-head comparison difficult,” Wim Hilbrands, chair of the jury and project director at DSM Innovation Center, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“Especially in the prototyping category, we ended up with a number of teams being very close to each other.”

Protein of the future
There have been no signs of protein demand slowing down. According to Innova Market Insights data, F&B launches with a high/source of protein claim have increased by 20 percent over the last five years (Global, CAGR 2015-2019).

Ultimately, all three finalist teams from both categories will receive prize money and professional support to further develop their ideas. Not just one team’s proposal, but many new ideas are needed to supply the 40 percent increase by 2050. 

“Two ideas that came out of the first edition of the challenge resulted in start-ups,” explains Marta Eggers, project lead of the Rethink Protein Challenge. 

For example, Edgar Suarez Garcia, runner-up in the 2019 Prototyping category, co-founded FUMI Ingredients, a start-up that isolates proteins from algae to create protein powders. Last year, his company received €500,000 (US$597,000) in funding for its second product, natural egg white replacers.

“We have also heard that some of the challenge participants followed their idea as a topic of PhD dissertation,” Eggers continues. 

“One of the participants of the first edition has joined the challenge for the second time with a different idea, and several have by now found jobs related to the topic of the challenge.”

Last week, FoodIngredientsFirst reported from the Future Food-Tech Alternative Proteins Summit, delving into the latest developments in protein ingredient discovery, scale-up opportunities, emergent technologies, as well as regulatory and market-access topics.

By Anni Schleicher