Heme

Revo Food's vegan salmon fillet with animal-free heme

Image courtesy of Revo Foods
Company News

Revo Foods & Paleo Unveil €2.2M EU-Backed Project for Salmon Alternatives with Animal-Free Heme

Two alternative protein startups, Austria’s Revo Foods, a manufacturer of 3D-printed vegan seafood, and Belgium’s Paleo, a precision fermentation startup developing animal-free heme, have joined forces to advance sustainable and realistic seafood alternatives. In a project initiated earlier this year and funded by the European Union’s Eurostars program with €2.2 million, the companies are working to develop a “unique” animal-free salmon heme for Revo Foods’ 3D salmon fillet. Speaking to Cultivated X, Hermes Sanctorum, CEO of Paleo, explained that the project is specifically focused on tailoring the company’s heme technology to enhance Revo’s plant-based seafood. “We’re currently in the testing phase, refining our approach to meet quality and sensory expectations,” he said. Alternatives that deliver “real” taste Paleo’s heme lineup for the plant-based sector includes …

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Impossible heme

© Impossible Foods
Fermentation

Impossible Foods and Motif FoodWorks Settle Heme Patent Tech Dispute

Impossible Foods and Motif FoodWorks have announced a joint settlement agreement regarding the legal battle over a patent infringement of heme technology using yeast and precision fermentation. Under the deal, Impossible Foods would acquire Motif FoodWorks‘ heme-related business. The agreement also stipulates neither party can renew allegations or bring the issue back to court, reported AFN. With this settlement, Impossible Foods, which produces the protein soy leghemoglobin found in soy, has gained access to the intellectual property and expertise of Motif FoodWorks on the animal-free protein myoglobin, branded as HEMAMI. Both iron-bearing proteins, known as heme, are said to impart the taste, texture, red color, and bleeding features of animal meat to plant-based alternatives. A battle for a secret ingredient By 2021, Impossible Foods exclusively …

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A photo of a pizza slice

© Ergo Bioscience
Ingredients

Ergo Bioscience Creates “Animal Proteins, Without Animals” for the Next Generation of Plant-Based

Ergo Bioscience, recognized in 2022 by FoodBytes! from Rabobank as one of the 15 most disruptive food tech startups worldwide, specializes in developing complex animal proteins such as bovine myoglobin and casein through plant cell culture. Founded in May 2020 with pre-seed investment from CITES, the startup boasts a team of 12 scientists dedicated to innovation and biotechnology to create animal-free ingredients. With biotech research in Wilmington, Delaware, laboratories in Sunchales and Santa Fe, Argentina, and a new subsidiary in Canada, Ergo believes in the potential of plant cells to bring sustainability to the food industry and beyond. Plant cells instead of microbes Ergo has developed a platform called EUKARYA that “programs” plant cells with multiple simultaneous genetic modifications to make them express complete structures …

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Impos heme approved for sale of burger in EU

© Impossible Foods
Company News

Impossible Burger Closer to EU Market as “Bleeding” Fermented Heme Deemed Safe

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has deemed Impossible Foods‘ precision fermentation-derived heme — soy leghemoglobin — safe for consumption. Soy leghemoglobin is responsible for the famous “bleeding” meat-like color and flavor of the Impossible Burger and other beef products of the US plant-based meat company. The additive, intended to be used as a coloring agent in meat analogs, is proposed to be included at a maximum level of 0.8%. The EFSA did not find it necessary to set an acceptable daily intake for soy leghemoglobin, as reported by Bloomberg. Since its initiation in 2019, the approval process has involved an ongoing safety assessment, which is yet to be completed. The company’s next challenge before achieving market approval is undergoing a safety evaluation by the …

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Raw potato on color background

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

10 Molecular Farming Startups Transforming Everyday Plants into Protein Powerhouses

Today, we bring you a roundup of molecular farming startups transforming plants into biofactories to produce alternatives to animal proteins, pigments, next-gen sweeteners, and growth factors. Plant molecular farming, an additional production approach to plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation, promises unlimited and cost-effective ingredients for food and other industries. Since it doesn’t require expensive infrastructure and bioreactors — only the magic of plants and bioengineering —  existing greenhouses and fields can become ingredient factories, ensuring a straightforward industrial scale-up and competitive prices. Each of the following startups has chosen a plant as its production facility: 1. VelozBio, Mexico: Discarded  fruits VelozBio, a startup based in Monterrey founded in 2020,  claims to have developed the world’s fastest protein design and development platform. VelozBio produces high-value proteins, including casein, by expressing target …

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tHEMEat upcycles vegetable waste into a vegan version of the protein heme to boost meaty flavors in plant-based alternatives.

© tHEMEat
Ingredients

tHEMEat: Vegan Heme From Vegetable Waste to “Beef” the Flavor of Plant-Based Meat

While many manufacturers use precision fermentation-derived proteins or processed food additives to enhance the flavor of plant-based alternatives, the Singaporean company tHEMEat offers an innovative option: extracting the flavors locked within vegetables to “beef” their taste. Co-founded by Max Tham and joined by a team from the National University of Singapore, tHEMEat upcycles vegetable waste into a vegan version of the heme protein. Naturally occurring in animal flesh, heme is an iron-containing molecule that plays an essential role in creating the rich flavor of meat, a more intense scent, and taste. Challenged by the flavor gap between animal and plant-based meat, tHEMEat developed a proprietary tech for extracting and synthesizing flavors from different feedstocks and a unique formulation for adding species-specific flavors. The result is VEME, …

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Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter at the inauguration – Image courtesy of Paleo
Fermentation

Paleo Opens New Facility in Belgium for Animal-Free Heme, Reveals Expansion Plans for 2024

On the back of its successful €12 million funding round last year, biotech company Paleo has opened a new pilot-scale facility in Leven, Belgium, at the Bio-Incubator Leuven.  The company, which specializes in developing proteins via precision fermentation, aims to use the new laboratory facilities to accelerate the production and commercialization of its flagship product, animal-free heme. Speaking to vegconomist, the company outlined its plans for 2024, including making significant progress in bringing its products to market and preparing for a Series B investment round. Last year, the company opened an office in Singapore to serve future activities in the Asia-Pacific region, where market approval for novel foods takes less time than in Europe. Expansion of the leadership team As part of the 2024 strategy, Paleo …

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Precision fermentation startup Paleo expands into the plant-based pet food market with an animal-free heme ingredient.

Image courtesy of Paleo
Fermentation

Bleeding Burgers for Vegan Dogs? Paleo Files World’s First Patent for Animal-Free Heme for Pet Food

Paleo, a precision fermentation startup from Belgium that produces alternative proteins for plant-based foods, is venturing into the plant-based pet food market with an animal-free heme ingredient. Today, the company announces that it has filed and published what it claims is the “world-first” patent application for using its animal-free heme in pet food formulations.  Paleo’s portfolio of heme includes the animal myoglobins found in beef, chicken, pork, lamb, tuna, and mammoth. However, Paleo tells vegconomist, that it is considering developing common preys for cats and dogs, including rat, mouse, and rabbit proteins. The biotech’s proteins are said to be highly pure, 100% GMO-free, and bioidentical to animal myoglobin. Initially, the product could be presented as a protein powder, but the company says it is considering the advantages …

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HN Novatech has secured funding to commercialise its flagship seaweed-extracted heme for plant-based meat

© HN Novatech
Investments & Finance

HN Novatech Secures $4 Million for Seaweed-Extracted Heme Meat Alternatives

South Korean food ingredient company HN Novatech announces it has secured $4 million in a Series-A bridge round to commercialize its flagship ingredient ACOM-S, a seaweed-extracted heme for plant-based meat applications. The round was led by VC Logan Ventures, which said it was partnering with HN Novatech to meet the global demand for clean-label meat alternatives. HN Novatech focuses on developing healthy, sustainable, and cutting-edge food ingredient alternatives and has filed 19 patents to date. It claims to be the first company in the world to extract heme-like molecules from seaweed and develop meat alternatives, such as burger patties (Korean BBQ beef), bulgogi, and sausages. Last month, in an event organized by the Singapore Tembusutech Innovation and KILSA Global, HN Novatech launched its seaweed-extracted heme for …

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Motif Plant-Based Burger

©Motif FoodWorks
Politics & Law

Motif Obtains Examination Before US Patent Office in Impossible Foods Dispute

The US Patent and Trademark Office announced on Friday that it will initiate inter partes proceedings (IPR) on patent 9,943,096 B2 claimed by Impossible Foods. The US agency’s decision initiates an administrative proceeding on the validity of one of Impossible Foods’ key patents, which is expected to take about a year. Motif FoodWorks had sought reexamination of the patent after Impossible Foods sued Motif in federal court last year, alleging that the company had infringed patent rights in its use of the heme ingredient to make plant-based meat substitutes. In Friday’s PTAB decision, Administrative Patent Judge Donna M. Praiss wrote that Motif “has demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on at least one claim of the ‘096 patent, and we are instituting an inter partes …

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Paleo founders

© Paleo
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Paleo Considers Legal Action Against Vow Regarding the Mammoth Meatball

Belgian precision fermentation firm Paleo announces it is considering legal action against Vow, an Australian cultivated meat company, for claiming that mammoth myoglobin protein is Vow’s invention, “while knowing that the technology (mammoth myoglobin) was already developed two years ago by Paleo, with patent applications ongoing.” Paleo develops animal-free heme proteins as ingredients for the alt meat sector. It focuses on producing myoglobin, a heme protein found in animal muscles. In July 2022,  the company released six new non-GM proteins: chicken, beef, pork, lamb, and tuna proteins and new variations of its mammoth protein, as part of the species extinct in the wild. “Our breakthrough in creating myoglobin for mammoth – and also beef, lamb, tuna, chicken, and pork — was significant and took hard work to bring about,” states …

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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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Paleo's animal-free heme proteins for plant-based foods

© Paleo
Investments & Finance

Paleo Raises €12M to Produce Animal-Free Heme for “Real Taste” Plant-Based Foods

Brussels-based precision fermentation firm Paleo, which aims to be a functional ingredient supplier for the alt protein sector, has raised €12 million in a Series A funding round to scale up the production of animal-free heme proteins and help manufacturers bring the “real taste” of meat to plant-based foods. Paleo focuses on producing myoglobin, a heme protein found in animal muscles that, when added to plant-based alternatives as an ingredient, replicates meat’s colour, smell, taste, and aromatic experience, providing iron and thus an increased nutritional value.  DSM Venturing and Planet A Ventures led the investment round, joined by Gimv, SFPIM Relaunch, Beyond Impact, and Siddhi Capital. GM-free heme proteins The Belgian food tech claims to be the first company to produce bioidentical GMO-free heme proteins of …

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