Smart seeds: Equinom accelerates breeding capabilities with new R&D center

06 Oct 2020 --- Seed breeding company Equinom is advancing its breeding capabilities to provide novel seed-to-table solutions. The company has a new R&D center that houses all vital departments together – biochemistry, applications, sensory and breeding.

Located at Kibbutz Givat Brenner in the agriculturally rich center of Israel, the new center allows Equinom to generate source ingredients for the food industry starting at the seed level.

This will also allow the company to more effectively address the needs of food and ingredient companies across the supply chain while creating seed solutions from seed-to-table.

Seeds with ‘exceptional characteristics’
One of the key aspects of Equinom’s business is to help manufacturers develop less processed plant-based products with cleaner and clearer labels. 

The new center provides end-to-end research and development capabilities to accelerate Equinom's efforts to develop the next generation of its non-GMO Smarter Seeds boasting exceptional characteristics, notes the company. 

The R&D center, at more than three times the size of Equinom’s original facility, contains all of the company’s development disciplines: agronomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, and food science. 

The four laboratories cover most of the company’s R&D units: seed processing, biochemistry lab, food application lab and a high-tech sensory lab.

The biochemistry lab adds a second layer of deep analysis of seeds and the discovery of their traits. It allows for full analysis of a seed strain’s nutritional profile (protein, oil/fat, fibers, starch, etc.) with high-throughput capacity and analysis methodology. 

This process is unique to Equinom, yielding the minutest details of thousands of lines every season and providing, together with the bioinformation team, a full genotype and phenotype of each crop.

Clean and clear labels in plant-based food
The food application lab is distinctive to Equinom and is crucial for interpreting the needs of the food industry from seed to table. It can directly incorporate food engineering inputs into Equinom’s breeding technology. 

“Consumers are now demanding clean-label plant-based products,” stresses Itay Dana, vice president  of marketing for Equinom. “By discovering appealing textures starting at a seed level for, as an example, meat analogs, we can dramatically reduce the need for extensive processing. This means food manufacturers are better able to provide consumers products with cleaner and clearer labels.”

“Equinom’s seeds can potentially reduce production cost by almost 40 percent via fewer ingredients, lower price, reduced need for flavor enhancers, and encouraging strong consumer adoption,” Dana adds.

The new sensory lab includes organoleptic tools for improving the design of tastier food products. By applying an advanced electronic nose (“e-nose”), Equinom can analyze a limitless variety of seed for thousands of taste compounds, reducing off-flavors. 

This technology, together with an in-house internal sensory panel, also drives the enhancement of desirable flavors. This is achieved by tracing the genetic background of the “good” flavors and merging those genetic traits into the breeding algorithms so that the resulting taste will be an intrinsic trait in the seed’s breeding programs.

“Introducing the e-nose lets us target desirable traits more accurately and design seeds that produce palate-pleasing products,” says Gil Shalev, CEO of Equinom. “As a bonus, it also reduces the need for maskers to block unpleasant flavor notes.”

Seed processing lab
The facility also includes a seed processing lab with phenotypic analysis that complements the field exploration and analysis. With 4,800 square feet dedicated to seed processing, Equinom can increase production up to 50 percent and accelerate its breeding capabilities. 

A new, larger climatized seed storage unit hosts Equinom’s legume germplasm collection — the most diverse in the world.

These labs constitute an important and critical tier in guiding the breeding program for the company’s “Smarter Seeds.” The program designs seeds for foods that can satisfy consumer appetites for authentic flavor and indulge the senses with appealing textures and aromas.

US storage facility 
In addition to establishing a new facility in Israel, Equinom also opened a new facility in Indianapolis, Indiana for offices and storage. This strategic location helps Equinom better serve its clients in North America and continue its momentum. 

The Indianapolis site will store planting seeds of sesame, yellow pea and soybean – Equinom’s main commercial products – plus function as the Midwest office for the company’s new recruits.

By Gaynor Selby