US-based Motif FoodWorks has gained exclusive access to two technologies with the potential to transform the consumer experience with plant-based meat and cheese. Motif will have exclusive access to these food technologies, which hold the promise to address two of the most significant challenges in plant-based foods: achieving melt and stretch in plant-based cheese and healthier fat that marbles in plant-based meat.

Mike Leonard, Motif FoodWorks’ chief technology officer, tells FoodIngredientsFirst that the company aims to make plant-based foods that people crave. “This partnership gives us exclusive access to two advanced food technologies that solve critical industry challenges: nailing the taste, texture and nutrition of plant-based cheese and meat.”

“Those areas are critical to delivering a pleasurable eating experience and boosting long-term adoption of plant-based foods.”

The plant-based experience  
According to Leonard, some of the current plant-based meat and cheese products don’t give consumers the same experience they get from their animal-based counterparts. 

“The bar needs to be way higher,” he recalls. “I think we can all agree that current plant-based cheese just doesn’t cut it. When it melts, you’re left with an oily, starchy paste. And plant-based meats rely on saturated fats, which means they aren’t able to give consumers the same marbleized fat as a steak and are less nutritious.”

As a result, Leonard says this latest partnership gives the company exclusive access to technologies that will improve this eating experience without sacrificing nutrition.

However, he also believes the demand for these products has just begun. “The taste and texture of plant-based meat and dairy products are a well-known barrier to entry for consumers experimenting with animal-free options, and the future of the plant-based category depends on the industry finding innovative solutions to these experience gaps,” Leonard underscores. 

“Partnerships like these help us develop the ingredients and products that will bring consumers better plant-based options that they’ll want to buy again and again, especially as the plant-based food sector grows in interest.” 

Exclusive commercial rights
Through the expanded collaboration, Motif will have exclusive access to extrudable fat technology, which is a unique oleogel technology that replicates animal fat, allowing for more authentic fat textures, such as marbling, in plant-based meats. The technology was acquired from Coasun, Inc.

Not only this, but Motif will also have access to prolamin technology which uses plant-based ingredients to improve the texture of plant-based cheese, allowing it to melt, bubble and stretch like animal-derived dairy. This was licensed from the University of Guelph.

According to Motif, the company’s latest move to acquire exclusive commercial rights to these technologies is just the first exciting development from the company’s ongoing collaboration with the University of Guelph in ontario and Dr. Alejandro Marangoni, founder of Coasun and Tier I Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging at Guelph.

Stefan Baier, Motif’s head of food science, will continue to lead the ongoing collaboration, which kicked off in 2019. 

Overcoming the challenges
Many of the underlying challenges in creating crave-worthy plant-based meats and cheeses stem from the difficulty of replicating the look, feel and eating experience of animal products. 

Current options on the market rely heavily on saturated fats, which negatively impact a product’s nutritional composition, says Motif. 

“Today’s plant-based meat and cheese alternatives lack the pleasure associated with eating the real thing. We want to change that at Motif,” notes Baier. 

“Leveraging two exclusive technologies through our collaboration with Coasun and the University of Guelph, Motif will enable performance in plant-based foods previously unheard of – from plant-based cheese on a sandwich or pizza that actually stretches and melts to plant-based meat with marbleized fat just like a ribeye or a New York strip.” 
Motif’s renewed collaboration with Guelph and Marangoni comes on the heels of the company’s grand opening of a state-of-the-art 10,600 square-foot office and lab space in the Boston Seaport (US) and continued expansion of their leadership team. 

In addition to partnering with experts and researchers, Motif leverages several scientific approaches. These include precision fermentation and materials science. The company then applies them in holistic ways to generate individual ingredients, protein systems, whole formula solutions and unique products to propel the plant-based industry forward. 

“We’re always looking for collaborators to help us progress our mission to make plant-based foods more nutritious and better tasting,” adds Leonard. 

“A big part of what makes Motif’s approach unique is our growing network of partners. We work with world-class universities across the globe, like the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Queensland, to ultimately deliver a better plant-based food experience for consumers,” he concludes.