Industry’s race to diversify outside of conventional plant and animal protein sources is largely tied to health and climate-conscious commitments. While significant R&D advancements in this space over the last year have centered on the discovery of new plant sources – such as novel flora from the Amazonian biome – specialists in the field have also been looking into scaling non-traditional resources like fungi-based protein and fermented protein from natural biogas.

FoodIngredientsFirst speaks to industry experts about the latest developments in emergent functional proteins.

“It is important for consumers to diversify their diets. There are many challenges in branching out of traditional proteins, keeping in mind consumers’ expectations,” says Christelle Mouteyen-Migaud, marketing manager at global yeast extract producer Biospringer.

“The need is to diversify sustainable plant sources – locally grown, if possible. Getting the protein from the plant should be done as naturally as possible, with a minimal transformation process. The protein must be easy to use, with a neutral taste and balanced nutritional profile."

Biospringer’s latest protein development is its yeast protein Springer Proteissimo 101. It is a complete protein, meaning that it contains all essential amino acids and is marketed as similar to animal proteins. 

“In addition, the solution has a minimal color and flavor impact and is vegan. Its protein content is more than 75 percent and it has a good digestibility with a Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score [PDCAAS] of 1 and a Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score [DIAAS] of 1.02,” Mouteyen-Migaud details.

“It can be used in meat and dairy analogs, savory biscuits, snacks, cookies, cakes, cereal and pastries and many more.”

Fermented protein from natural biogas
Unibio recently secured a US$15 million bridge round financing arranged by West Hill Capital, predominantly from existing shareholders. The company’s valuation is now above US$300 million. The capital raised will be used for general corporate purposes and to support the company’s future development plans.

“Unibio is seeking to address the need for more sustainable protein to feed the world’s growing population. 

“Many of the alternatives to Uniprotein, our flagship product, such as soya and fish meal, are unsustainable on a very large scale due to heavy land usage or fishing practices which are highly destructive of the natural environment,” a company spokesperson tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Unibio uses a natural microbial fermentation process to produce protein from natural gas or biogas. “The process uses microbes that were originally found in Bath, in the UK. Our Uniprotein is certified organic. We are currently ramping up production and have just reached industrial scale,” says the spokesperson.

“Uniprotein has a high-quality protein content of 70 percent, comparable to other high-quality protein feeds such as fish meal and soya,” they continue. “Single cell proteins like Uniprotein have been approved for animal use in the EU and Uniprotein has been tested for fish farming and piglet consumption.”

Unibio has also closed a partnership agreement with private international investment company Stafilies in respect of Protelux, the first industrial-scale plant producing Uniprotein. 

As part of the transaction, the intellectual property and experience gained by Protelux in constructing and operating the world’s first industrial-scale U-Loop fermenter will be shared with Unibio and can be leveraged when designing and building similar facilities around the world. 

Following the partnership, Stafilies is now a significant shareholder in Unibio.

Mycoprotein raises €42 million
Food-tech start-up Enough (formerly 3F BIO) has raised €42 million (US$49.7 million) in Series B funding, which will be used to scale its Abunda mycoprotein. The ingredient is made by fermenting fungi using renewable feedstocks to make what it markets as the “most sustainable source of food protein.”

Enough wants to cultivate over a million metric tons of mycoprotein by 2032. This value is the equivalent of replacing five million cows, over one billion chickens or reducing more than six million metric tons of CO2 emissions – the equivalent of planting more than 30 million trees.

“The market for delicious, nutritious vegan products is growing at a pace that requires a step- change in the supply of sustainable ingredients,” says Jim Laird, CEO of Enough. “This will supercharge our focus which prioritizes collaboration and B2B supply to maximize the pace of growth and reach into the market.”

The funding round is led by Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed and Olympic Investments, along with new investors including AXA IM Alts through the AXA Impact Fund – Climate & Biodiversity, HAL Investments and Tailored Solutions.

The Good Food Institute (GFI) Brazil is spearheading The Biomas Project, a program to fund exploratory research for transforming plant species native to the Amazon and Cerrado biomes into food ingredients that the alternative protein industry needs to sustainably feed the growing population.

With an investment of up to R$135,000 (US$26,700) per project, the funding will be directed toward studies that focus on the investigation of four Amazonian species (babaçu, guaraná, cupuaçu and Brazil nuts) and three from the Cerrado (baru, macaúba and pequi).

In Brazil, a new species of fauna and flora is discovered every three days, GFI highlights. With such an abundance of biodiversity, Brazil’s native plant species hold great potential to promote forest conservation, sustainably enhance meat-free products and boost local economic development.

Brazil currently ranks as the world’s third-largest meat-consuming market, behind China and the US. Despite this, the plant-based revolution has already begun to carve out a stronger foothold in the region, as evidenced by new local introductions of vegan brands such as Fazenda Futuro (Future Farm). 

“The potential of Brazilian native flora is not reflected in supermarkets, fairs and even less in Brazilian cuisine. As a result, society fails to enjoy the benefits arising from this wealth,” says Cristiana Ambiel, GFI Brazil’s science and technology manager.

“In the case of species for food use, society ends up not benefiting from the high nutritional values present in native Brazilian species. Although nature is rich, this wealth must be used wisely. This could be humanity’s great step into the future.”