Swiss-based QL AG, a meals expertise agency with a mission to “feed the world, skip the cow, and scale back greenhouse fuel emissions,” has unveiled a strategic partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks, a cell programming and biotech firm, to introduce fermentation-based dairy proteins which might be on par with conventional choices when it comes to dietary worth.
QL AG, identified for its revolutionary biotechnological options, seeks to leverage Ginkgo Bioworks’ proficiency in pressure engineering of microorganisms to develop animal-free dairy proteins to cater to evolving client calls for.
“Dairy proteins derived utilizing fermentation have benefits throughout many key dimensions, together with style and texture”
Kalpesh Parekh, vice chairman of enterprise improvement at Ginkgo Bioworks, cited the huge potential of dairy proteins for the corporate’s platform: “Dairy proteins present an thrilling alternative to leverage our platform, as they’ve historically introduced product builders with vital challenges round protein productiveness, economics, and performance for efficacy throughout totally different purposes. We goal to resolve such challenges with our deep experience in protein engineering, novel bioactivity and biochemistry identification, high-throughput expression, useful research, and scale-up capabilities.”
Dairy business’s local weather challenges
The dairy sector finds itself grappling with mounting challenges attributable to the persistent impacts of local weather change, which have led to diminishing land and water assets. The worldwide panorama is witnessing an escalation in provide chain disruption, driving up manufacturing prices and fueling client calls for for meals options that aren’t solely wholesome but additionally sustainable and cost-effective. Latest research have discovered that animal-free milk produced utilizing fermentation can generate as much as 96% fewer emissions than cow’s milk, additional highlighting the environmental advantages of shifting away from conventional dairy.
Attributable to these shifts in market dynamics, the choice dairy business has skilled exceptional progress, accumulating billions of {dollars} in income in recent times. European various milk gross sales alone have skilled a formidable 49% progress within the final two years, and research present that, at worth parity, animal-free cheese has the potential to share 33% of the UK cheese market. However, many dairy substitutes nonetheless don’t fulfill client expectations, significantly relating to style and texture.
Benefits of fermentation-derived dairy proteins
Roger Föhn, CEO and co-founder of QL AG, highlighted the advantages of dairy proteins produced by means of fermentation, stating: “Dairy proteins derived utilizing fermentation have benefits throughout many key dimensions, together with style and texture, in addition to the truth that they haven’t any arable land requirement and a decrease water requirement.”
“By accessing Ginkgo’s platform, QL AG can assist scale back the price of producing dairy proteins with fermentation. We’re excited to pursue our purpose of creating a quantum leap in various agriculture by leveraging Ginkgo’s distinctive capabilities in producing strains at excessive titers and scaling fermentation processes,” concluded Föhn.
