Singapore invests in precision fermentation hub to mitigate food insecurity

27 Jun 2024 --- US-based University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has received a five-year, US$14.8 million grant to develop a “Centre for Precision Fermentation and Sustainability” (PreFerS). The funding for the center, which will focus on advancing technologies for microbial cell engineering to formulate “safe, nutritious and appetizing” foods, has been given by Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF). 

Researchers will leverage advanced fermentation techniques to convert sugars and inedible parts of crops into targeted, nutritional molecules such as alternative proteins, healthy lipids and vitamins.

Food Ingredients First sits down with Jeremy S. Guest, associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and associate director for research at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment (iSEE), which is supporting the project, to understand how the F&B industry can leverage precision fermentation methods to formulate more reliable and environmentally sustainable foods amid pressing issues like climate change.

“With recent advancements in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, precision fermentation can now use food-grade microorganisms to convert inexpensive and abundant raw materials, like sugars and inedible parts of crops, into scarce and healthy food ingredients,” he says.

“This means we can leverage a robust and well-established supply of low-cost, plant-based feedstocks and design microorganisms and bioprocesses to produce whatever macronutrients, like proteins and lipids and micronutrients including vitamins, are needed.”

NRF granted the funds to the Illinois Advanced Research Center at Singapore (Illinois ARCS), which will establish the PreFerS facility at the NRF’s Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) on the National University of Singapore campus.

Optimizing resource circularity
At the PreFerS facility, the research team plans to focus on the science of microbial cell engineering and the toolsets for precision fermentation with food-grade microorganisms and scale up production from laboratory to pilot scale. 

The researchers will work on improving the precision fermentation toolset to maximize efficient production of target food products and minimizing unnecessary byproducts.“We will also develop models and technologies to optimize resource circularity and achieve financially viable food production,” notes Guest.

The first aim of PreFerS is to improve the precision fermentation toolset, maximizing efficient production of target food products and minimizing unnecessary byproducts. The second aim will center on “bioprocess engineering” and focus on scaling up fermentation in a cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner.

Addressing “hidden hunger”
Food security and sustainability are a major concern in Singapore and globally, says Madhu Khanna, iSEE’s director, who worked with Guest to guide the 18-month proposal development with the NRF.

“We believe the work done by this new research team on a fermentation-based food supply will help Singapore reach its goal to produce 30% of its nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.”

The PreFerS team will work to produce macronutrients such as proteins and lipids, but will also address the critical challenge of micronutrient deficiencies known as “hidden hunger,” informs Guest.

According to the FAO, hidden hunger or micronutrient deficiencies, occurs when the quality of food that people eat does not meet their nutrient requirements, so they are not getting the essential vitamins and minerals they need for their growth and development, such as iron, zinc, calcium, iodine, vitamin A, B vitamins and vitamin C. The WHO says it affects two billion people globally, 20% of which are European. The problem is also rampant among school children.

“To address this challenge, PreFerS scientists and engineers will be working to produce more nutritious food products by also producing target vitamins and making target minerals, such as iron, bioavailable,” explains Guest.

The PreFerS team will also address micronutrient deficiencies or “hidden hunger,” which impacts children.The research team will formulate foods (like plant-based protein) that include vitamins and minerals which address micronutrient deficiencies.

Reducing F&B’s environmental impact
Funding from the NRF will allow the University of Illinois researchers to work directly with scholars in Singapore with complementary expertise and research facilities to expedite the translation of laboratory research to societal impact, underscores Guest.

“By leveraging plant-based feedstocks and agricultural residues to efficiently produce nutritious food products like plant-based protein, precision fermentation can reduce the environmental impacts of food production and its vulnerability to climate change,” he adds.

Microbial fermentation can also be used to produce meat alternatives, for instance, and reduces reliance on conventional agricultural systems that are “ecologically inefficient” and contribute significantly to climate change.

He explains: “Additionally, by using sugar as the main input for the microbes, precision fermentation systems can produce target food products from a wide and potentially varying range of plant-based feedstocks. This ability to leverage abundant and diverse feedstocks significantly improves the resilience of the production process.”

Upcoming advancements
The costs and environmental impacts of plant-based foods will continue to decrease through continued advancements in precision fermentation and bioprocess engineering, asserts Guest. 

“We have seen food companies successfully produce novel food ingredients with precision fermentation, and our scientific understanding and technological capabilities are growing rapidly. As manufacturing capabilities expand, we can expand an ever-growing portfolio of healthy and affordable food products on the market.”

By Insha Naureen