APPETEX Plant-Based Burger Texture

©Motif FoodWorks

Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Motif FoodWorks Announces First Consumer Launch of Motif BeefWorks™ Burger Patties Featuring APPETEX

Boston-based Motif FoodWorks announces it has launched its second food technology ingredient, APPETEX™, for large-scale commercial distribution. Described as a “breakthrough” ingredient, APPETEX is said to enhance the texture of plant-based foods by providing the unique springy and juicy chew found in animal meat products.  To enable consumers to taste the benefits of APPETEX, Motif will offer its first finished products, Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Burger Patties, to consumers beginning in April.  According to Motif, APPETEX (a combination of “appetite” and “texture”) is an edible plant-based  hydrogel that is capable of recreating the bite associated with animal connective tissue. While plant-based proteins like texturized soy or pea protein can mimic the fibrous structure of meat, Motif says, these ingredients fall short in creating the springy “chewdown” …

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Motif FoodWorks Burger with HEMAMI

©Motif FoodWorks

Company News

Motif FoodWorks Partners with IngredientWerks to Explore Creating Animal-Free Heme From Corn

Food tech startup Motif FoodWorks announces it is partnering with IngredientWerks, an agtech ingredients company, to develop high-value plant-based proteins for the alt-protein market. Through the research partnership, the two companies say they will explore new ways to optimize heme protein production through molecular farming.  According to Motif, the partners have begun an exploratory study aimed at recreating Motif’s HEMAMI™ ingredient using corn. HEMAMI is used to give plant-based meats the same flavor and aroma as animal-based meat, and is said to be bioidentical to the bovine heme protein found in beef. IngredientWerks will aim to produce Motif’s HEMAMI using broad-acre crops such as corn. If successful, Motif says enabling crop protein production in its ingredient strategy will lower both production costs and the carbon footprint …

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Motif Foodworks

©Motif Foodworks

Politics & Law

Motif Foodworks’ IP Battle Intensifies as Europe Revokes Impossible Foods Patent

Food tech startup Motif Foodworks announces it has filed four new challenges to US patents held by Impossible Foods. The company’s legal move comes a week after The European Patent Office (EPO) announced it had revoked an EU patent held by Impossible Foods. The EU and US patents that Motif is challenging involve meat alternative products containing heme protein, sugars and sulfur compounds. Motif argues these ingredients are not patentable by Impossible due to their longstanding use as taste and smell enhancers for meat alternatives. The reasoning behind the EPO’s decision to revoke Impossible’s patent (No. 2,943,072 B1 – Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma profile of consumables – ‘072) has not been published, but an Impossible Foods spokesperson asserted that the …

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Hemami steak ©Motif Foodworks

Company News

Solar Biotech Expands Partnership With Motif Foodworks After “Groundbreaking” HEMAMI Reveal

Solar Biotech, the SynBio technologies and products development startup, announces an expanded partnership with US food-tech company Motif FoodWorks. This announcement comes on the heels of Motif’s launch of the beef-like heme-binding protein HEMAMI last month. “The HEMAMI reveal is ground-breaking news in the plant-based and alternative protein food trade and we are proud to be a part of making this FoodTech milestone,” states Lisa Wade, Communications and Social Development Manager at Solar Biotech. Motif’s strategic partnership with Solar Biotech began in 2020, when Motif turned to Solar Biotech to increase its production capacity. Motif utilized Solar Biotech’s development and precision fermentation capabilities for pilot-scale production of HEMAMI™. The breakthrough food-tech is a yeast-derived heme protein that brings an umami flavor and meaty aroma. HEMAMI …

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