This audio is generated automatically. Please let me know if you have any comments.
America’s insatiable demand for protein is putting renewed focus on precision fermentation. This technology has been around for decades, but is now being considered as a potential solution for scaling up production of high-value ingredients.
Precision fermentation essentially turns microorganisms like yeast into mini-factories, programming them to produce ingredients like palm oil and proteins. For example, in the cheese industry, this technology is widely used to produce rennet, a key ingredient found in the stomach of young calves.
Recently, as precision fermentation capabilities have expanded, some startups are promoting this technology as a method of manufacturing natural food dyes. As material costs rise due to climate change and other issues, this technology offers a promising, less environmentally intensive solution to expand food production inexpensively.
With over 30 years of experience in precision fermentation, Cargill operates a fermentation network that includes more than $2 billion invested across infrastructure and partnerships. In a conversation with Food Dive, Florian Schattenmann, Cargill’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Innovation and R&D, talks about what precision fermentation is and how it could redefine the future of food innovation.
This conversation has been edited for clarity.
Food Dive: What is Precision Fermentation? Is it similar to farmed or lab-grown meat, or is it something different?
Florian Schattenmann, Cargill Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Innovation and R&D
Provided by Cargill
Florian Schattenmann: I’ve also heard a lot about cultivated meat, but it’s actually not an accurate term for cultivated meat. Cultivated meat basically does what the body does. Not just inside the body or inside the tank. So what I mean is, if you feed that cell, it will partially grow, so you get more cells. And they do so in a controlled environment.
Precision fermentation is a little different. What’s there is an organism. It could be bacteria. It could be mold. It could be yeast. And these organisms take a substrate, something they “eat”, and then digest it and spit something out.
This is actually a digestive process inside the cell. For example, each of these tiny yeast cells can be used to digest incoming glucose, a common sugar, into the desired target molecule.
There are a few categories where this works really well. The first is the sweetness aspect, which we’re driven by. Next is protein, which is kind of the next big wave. And perhaps the furthest third factor is how to use it to make certain special oils.
I am from Bavaria. We have been making beer through fermentation for thousands of years. The yeast that was originally there is filtered out when you drink the beer. So, in principle, precision fermentation is not much different. This is a more specific process and therefore more accurate.
Please tell us more about the advantages of precision fermentation. How are they set to hinder food innovation?
There are some really big benefits to this. Because if you can train yeast very specifically, you can get relatively high yields.
Second, you can do this in an environment that doesn’t use as much water or energy as alternatives. We performed the comparison to obtain virtually identical target molecules. Precision fermentation saves over 90% of water and energy compared to growing it somewhere, extracting it, and doing everything else.
But there is also a food security element to this. Because whatever you want, you can make it right there. There is also price stability.
And finally, and perhaps a little unusually, is that these organisms can be trained to become more capable. Actually, you can make it a bit more specific. For example, if you have a dairy protein and are concerned about allergens, you can determine whether that protein produces the desired key parts in high yield. So you have some control over the final piece.
How do you think precision fermentation will work as more companies reformulate to add proteins or other ingredients?
Consumers want more choices. We all have different needs. The trend toward personalization is growing. This is similar to the increased fragmentation of our consumer base, which means we need to offer consumers more and more different types of solutions.
The way I see it is using precision fermentation to make specific ingredients like sweeteners, proteins, and fats. However, there are separate steps involved in formulating it to suit different requirements.
So you can take that ingredient you mentioned, maybe protein, and put it in your fitness bars, your cookies, your soup. And these proteins may have slightly different functions geared towards better mouthfeel or other characteristics.
Consumers have remained skeptical of food technologies such as GMOs. Could this limit the adoption of precision fermentation?
One thing we’ve all learned through all kinds of fads and trends is that there are different techniques and different types of food that can coexist together. You’ll get tons of sweetness from a variety of sources. There will be proteins from other sources. There will be fats from different sources.
However, it cannot replace other foods. I think it will add one more arrow to the quiver.
