Sugar to oil: Checkerspot unlocks microalgae fermentation for sustainable fat alternatives

28 Mar 2024 --- Fats and oils find a plethora of applications in the F&B industry — from frying and dressings to providing texture to bakery and confectionery. However, unstable supply chains and climate changes are driving formulators to explore more sustainable sources of edible oils. One such example is Checkerspot’s microalgae-based technology platform that uses the organism to transform a sugar feedstock into triglyceride oils via a precision fermentation process.

In a process similar to how yeasts ferment sugar into alcohol, the renewable oil formulator leverages Prototheca moriformis, an oleaginous microalgae strain, for fermentation to develop sustainable algae oils as an alternative to conventional fats used in F&B.

Food Ingredients First catches up with Scott Franklin, co-founder and CSO of Checkerspot, to dive into the varied applications of microalgae oils that also perform on taste, nutrition and sustainability metrics.

What are the latest innovations in plant-based oils and what is driving demand?
Franklin: There is a growing understanding with consumers around the important role that fats and oils play in nutrition. Through our technology platform, we can tailor the fatty acid composition of microalgae oils to achieve key nutritional benefits. One example of a performance nutrition application is our recent human milk fat analog, oleic-palmitic-oleic, developed through our microalgae fermentation process as an ingredient for infant formula that more closely mimics the fats found in human breast milk.

Checkerspot’s expeller-pressed culinary oil is neutral and has 13 g of good fats per serving (Image credit: Checkerspot).What was the inspiration behind formulating a sustainable algae oil?
Franklin: The world needs better sources of natural oils that can be produced on demand and scale. Microalgae are the planet’s original oil producers. Our scientists have spent decades studying these incredible single-celled precursors to all plant life and have found that microalgae are very efficient at turning sugar into oil through fermentation in a few days. The fact that all of the oil-producing machinery of higher plants is present in each microalgae cell means that microalgae can produce virtually any oil that a higher plant can make. Our sugars-to-oils technology platform allows us to offer solutions for companies, brands and consumers looking for new, more sustainable fats and oils.

How can your fermentation technology create oils that are less vulnerable to climate change?
Franklin: Our fermentation process runs under controlled conditions that repeatedly create a very narrow oil composition at commercial scale. Unlike plants, our microalgae don’t need sunlight to grow. When combined in a broth containing a sugar feedstock and other micro- and macronutrients, microalgae cells grow, naturally fattening up and filling with a triglyceride oil in a few days. Algae oil production also has a 47% lower carbon footprint than canola oil and uses less land and water than many other oils.

Fermentation and the ability to produce multiple types of oils on demand in a matter of days means that you can produce oils separate from geography and climatic disruptions. For example, with this oil production platform, it is possible to make a tropical type of oil in the US in winter or an ultra-high-oleic oil in the middle of summer in a tropical region using a fermentation process that is repeatable, predictable, scalable and fully traceable.

What are the potential applications of your microalgae oil in the food industry?
Franklin: Our microalgae-based technology platform is capable of producing drop-in replacements to existing triglyceride fats and oils. However, most interestingly, the platform can create entirely new compositions, which can deliver better performance concerning taste, texture and stability while enhancing macro and micro nutrition, all while meeting more demanding sustainability targets and ensuring supply chain security via regional production.

Frying is a potential application of high oleic microalgae oils.Our food and nutrition division, Spotlight Foods, has already partnered with professional chefs, foodservice operators and packaged goods companies. It [fermented algae oil] is entirely neutral, highly stable, a strong emulsifier and contains 13 g of monounsaturated, omega 9s, or “good” fats per serving and less saturated fat than avocado oil. We have Michelin Star and Bravo Top Chefs experimenting with everything from frying to vegan baked goods to dips and dressings — even fat-rinsed cocktails.

All F&B requiring the use of oils or fats are current potential applications for Checkerspot’s oils, from high oleic microalgae oils for frying, dressings and bakery to structuring fats for confectionery and bakery or performance nutrition. 

What are your future plans with the product?
Franklin: There is a massive opportunity with fats and oils made from algae. Our partnership with AAK specifically aims to bring a new more sustainable structuring fat to market that can improve nutrition and impart specific functionality for certain end-use applications. While many people are familiar with how healthy algae oils such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) can positively impact the human diet, our goal is to continue to discover and develop new fats and oils with partners such as AAK that meet the growing needs of global brands, their consumers and the global food supply chain. 

By Insha Naureen