Zayt Bioscience Creates Fermented Fats to Combat Deforestation in Food Industry
Amr Aswad and Venkat Konasan founded the biotech startup Zayt Bioscience in Berlin, Germany, to create a new generation of fermented fats that do not come from agricultural commodities. Palm and soybean oilseeds are the primary sources of oil, an essential product for food production, from chocolates to biscuits to margarine and frying fats. Additionally, plant oils find applications in various industries, such as cosmetics, cleaning products, and biofuel production. However, according to an Our World in Data report, palm and soybean crops account for 18% of global deforestation annually, mainly in the global south. Backed by the VC FoodLabs in a pre-seed funding round, Zayt Bioscience developed a patent-pending precision fermentation platform that uses microbes and fruit waste to make alternatives to palm oil and margarine. The proof of concept of the …