Molecular farming: Moolec Science engineers animal protein into plants for egg and dairy replacements
06 Apr 2021 --- UK-based Moolec Science has expanded its portfolio to include animal-free protein solutions based on molecular farming. The company’s hybrid approach combines plant-based and cell-based technologies to develop sustainable, cost-effective proteins.
The agri-tech company is engineering ovum protein into wheat for an egg replacement specially designed for the bakery industry. Similarly, it is functionalizing oat concentrates with co-expressed whey protein.
With its solutions, the company is aiming to further raise the affordability of alternative foods.
“Our selection of dairy and egg proteins will be produced in the host crop,” explains Henk Hoogenkamp, chief product officer and co-founder of Moolec Science.
“We are going to let the plants, the sun and the land work. After only basic processing, Moolec’s product will have superior nutritional and functional properties for a fraction of the cost,” he details.
“For example, our wheat and egg protein products will have a higher content of digestible protein and, thus, improved nutritional value.”
Eventually, Moolec Science expects that its technology will have the cost structure of plant-based solutions with the organoleptic properties and functionalities of cell-based proteins.
Molecular farmed proteins are pegged as being “at least ten times more cost-effective” than leading cell-based solutions.Functionalizing oat ingredients
The two newly announced products will join the meat analogues currently in Moolec Science’s pipeline, which include varieties of soybean with selected porcine proteins and pea with bovine proteins.
“We started exploring the space more than ten years ago,” says Gastón Paladini, CEO and co-founder of Moolec Science.
“We were the first team to fully deregulate a Molecular Farming crop and its functionalized protein concentrate for its use in the cheese-making industry, a product that has been successfully used in the manufacturing of thousands of tons of soft and hard cheeses,” he details.
The food-tech pioneer currently has the support and financial backing of various investors such as Bioceres Ventures and Union Group. Molecular farmed proteins are pegged as being “at least ten times more cost-effective” than leading cell-based solutions.
Exploring new protein pathways
Molecular farming is still a technology that has not yet been fully explored in the alternative proteins landscape.
In a proof of concept for the cheese market, the company became the first to produce the bovine enzyme chymosin – also known as rennin – in safflower seeds. The functional protein is commercialized under the SPC brand.
“Proteins are responsible for the functionality, mouth experience and many nutritional aspects in food,” notes Paladini. “We want to collaborate with B2C food companies to offer the optimal journey and proper affordability for consumers.”
Moolec Science anticipates that molecular farming technologies – used in tandem with sustainable farming practices – will help “bring farmers back to the equation in the making of the next functional food generation.”
The company recently acquired a nutritional oil technology for the production of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, branded as Sonova). This technology complements the company’s bovine chymosin production platform in safflower.
Edited by Benjamin Ferrer
