Girl drinking milk in school

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Fermentation

Canada’s Renaissance BioScience Receives Government Funding to Develop Yeast Solution for the Off-Flavors of Plant Proteins

The Vancouver-based yeast bioengineering company Renaissance BioScience has been awarded CAD $232,000 in funding from the Canadian Food Innovation Network to develop a revolutionary product for plant-based protein products.  Renaissance is working on a pioneering project with food industry partners to develop and commercialize a non-GMO solution to neutralize compounds that lead to off-flavors and undesirable aromas in plant-based flours and proteins. In addition to enhancing taste, the yeast aims to eliminate the need for commonly used “flavor masking” ingredients by providing a clean-label solution for manufacturers; on a product’s ingredient list, the yeast solution will be simply identified as “yeast.” Better flavor for a growing market Despite the health and sustainability benefits that plant-based alternatives to animal products offer, widespread consumer acceptance is hindered …

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chicken bouillon Lallemand

© Lallemand

Ingredients

Revolutionizing Plant-Based Eating: A New Sensory Experience with Savor-Lyfe® CI

In recent years, a growing awareness of sustainability concerns, food security issues, and the environmental and public health consequences associated with industrial animal agriculture has prompted a shift towards plant-based diets. While the demand for plant-based products has surged, there remains a challenge to develop alternatives that not only cater to niche markets but also resonate with mainstream consumers. Flexitarian consumers, consciously reducing their meat intake for health, environmental, and animal welfare reasons, are driving significant expansion within the plant-based food market. According to Mintel’s 2024 Global Food & Drink Trends, consumers are no longer willing to compromise taste and cost for sustainability credentials. As the cost of living rises, companies are faced with the challenge of delivering on all fronts – taste, cost, and …

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Vegan Burger Display at a Take Away stall in London's Borough Market UK

Image courtesy of Lallemand

Ingredients

Lallemand’s Animal-Free Vitamin D Yeast Approved For Multi-Category Use in UK

Lallemand, a family-owned business headquartered in Canada, announces the expansion of categories of use for its non-animal derived Lalmin vitamin D yeast in the UK. The company pioneered the use of vitamin D yeast as a novel food, obtaining the first such authorization in the EU in 2014. The respective Ministers of Primary Care and Public Health in England, Scotland, and Wales have now authorized extended uses in 26 food categories of UV-treated baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as an animal-free source of vitamin D, marking the first post-Brexit vitamin D yeast approval in the UK by Lallemand. The new categories include bakery, fermented products, sauces and condiments, pasta, and meat and dairy analogs. An application has also been submitted to the US FDA to extend …

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Ohly

Kristina Vervoorst. © Ohly

Interviews

Ohly: “Creating State-of-the-Art Ingredients That Contribute to Sustainable Lifestyles”

Ohly is a world-leading provider of specialty yeast products and extracts. These vegan-friendly ingredients can be used to enhance flavors, reduce salt content, mask off-notes, and more. Last year, Ohly launched a native yeast protein concentrate with a gelling function that can replace eggs in numerous applications, such as desserts, bakery products, and sauces. The ingredient can also act as an emulsifier, foaming agent, and more. Ohly has recently added to its extensive range by developing its first carbon-neutral yeast extracts. We spoke to Nancy Zacca, director of global sales, and Kristina Vervoorst, product and marketing manager, to find out more about the company and its products. Ohly offers a range of plant protein ingredients. What solutions do you bring to food producers? How do …

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mycoprotein meatballs in tomato sauce

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Fermentation

Danish Yummowia Project Leverages Syn Bio to Transform Yeast into Mycoprotein Meat

Yummowia, a project spin-off from the Technical University of Denmark led by Professor Irina Borodina to develop an engineered mycoprotein meat alternative from yeast, has been accepted into the Bio Studio accelerator program of the BioInnovation Institute (BII) in Denmark. Backed by a maximum grant of €1 million per year for up to three years, BII will assist the project with business development expertise, intellectual property support, access to an investor network, and wet lab and office infrastructure. BII’s Bio Studio program supports world-leading entrepreneurial principal investigators (PI) who want to translate innovative research ideas into new solutions to benefit planetary and human health. Additionally, BII, with its Venture Lab accelerator, helps grow and scale startups such as FÆRM, which is crafting the next generation of plant-based …

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the fruit of the palm oil used for palm oil production

© Clean Food Group

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Cultivated Palm Oil Has Potential to Reduce Dependency on Controversial Palm Oil Industry

Clean Food Group, a company developing cultivated palm oil alternatives made from yeast, is currently preparing for the commercialisation of its Clean Palm Oil planned for 2023 aiming to reduce dependency on the controversial palm industry. The development process began at the University of Bath, where Christopher Chuck, Professor of Bioprocess Engineering, has been working on a project using “unique fermentation processes to develop a palm oil substitute from lignocellulosic waste.” In Q1 2022, the relevant intellectual property gained during the project was acquired by Clean Food Group, a food ingredients startup for which Prof Chuck is Group Technical Advisor. Back in 2021, UK cellular agriculture investment group Agronomics announced its plans to make investments into new “category leaders in both cell culture and fermentation …

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Super Nooch Notorious Nooch Co

©Notorious Nooch Co

Market & Trends

Global Market for Nooch to Soar to Almost $1Billion

Nutritional yeast, known colloquially as nooch, has reached a global market size of  $428.1 million according to a new report, and is set to more than double in the next ten years, reaching almost a billion, at US$999.5 million. Nutritional yeast, an inactivated yeast usually made from saccharomyces cerevisiae, has been widely used by vegans as a cheese replacement, for added umami flavour or use in sauces. Nooch offers several potential health benefits, ranging from lower cholesterol to protein from cellular damage, and contains high amounts of vitamin B12, often lacking in the plant-based diet. Nooch in the mainstream Countless brands around the world are producing nooch in flake format to be sprinkled on pastas, salads, or any food as a parmesan-style alternative. One of …

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Lallemand

Image: Lallemand

Company News

Lallemand Receives Authorization For Non-Animal Vitamin D Yeast in the EU

Lallemand Bio-Ingredients, a yeast specialist based in Canada, announces that the EU Regulation authorizing the use of its Lalmin® non-animal vitamin D yeast in 22, consolidated, new food categories, has now been published. Vitamin D is vital for human health; it is obtained by sunlight and some foods, and supplements are recommended for those in countries with less sunshine. Many vitamin D products come from animal sources including eggs and lanolin. Previously, Lallemand‘s vitamin D yeast was permitted for use in baked products and food supplements. In April of last year, Lallemand received a favourable opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the use of vitamin D yeast in additional categories, including fermented milk or cream, and meat or dairy analogues. The EU …

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ProteinDistillery

©ProteinDistillery

Ingredients

ProteinDistillery Launches Customizable Vegan Protein from Upcycled Brewer’s Yeast 

ProteinDistillery is a German biotech startup producing what it claims is the first customizable vegan protein to fully substitute all functionalities of animal protein. The innovative proteins are obtained from upcycled brewer’s yeast, using by-products from Germany’s famous beer industry and contributing to a sustainable circular economy. Not requiring the addition of fillers or stabilizers such as methylcellulose, ProteinDistillery says its microorganism-derived proteins are designed to offer solutions across multiple areas of the alt protein sector, including meat, dairy, and egg alternatives, as well as functional food. The customizable vegan protein is offered by the food tech startup in a B2B model to manufacturers. In Germany, the birthplace of the famous beer “purity law”, yeast is not only available in large quantities but also offers …

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Greg Erdei ©Lallemand Bio-ingredients

Interviews

Lallemand Bio Ingredients: “We Provide High Value Yeast Ingredients to Key Players in the Plant-Based Marketplace”

Lallemand Bio-Ingredients, a yeast specialist based in Canada, follows a customer-centric strategy and strengthens its business relationships worldwide by visiting several expositions and summits. We spoke to Greg Erdei, Business Development Manager – Plant Based Nutrition, about customer relationships and yeast extracts that bring an umami taste profile to plant-based products. Who is Lallemand and what does the company stand for in the plant-based sector? Lallemand Bio-Ingredients (LBI) is first and foremost a customer orientated yeast company – we are a dedicated and loyal supporter of our customer base. Within the Savory segment, we provide high-value yeast-based ingredients to food and flavours producers – many of which are either key players or startups in the plant-based marketplace. What is Lallemand’s plant-based range? We develop, produce …

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Jan Bebber Ohly

Jan Bebber ©Ohly

Interviews

Ohly: “We Aim to Delight Our Customers With Innovative & Functional Ingredients Solutions”

Ohly is one of the world’s leading suppliers of yeast-based ingredients and culinary powders for the global food, fermentation, human and animal health markets. Ohly offers a wide range of products such as yeast extracts, inactive dry yeast, yeast cell wall derivatives, probiotic yeast and autolysed yeast, based on baker’s, torula yeast and specialty powders.  We spoke with Jan Bebber, Global Platform Director – New Business, about the Hamburg-based ingredients specialist’s work in the plant-based sector. Please can you give us some background to the business? We are a part of the ABF Ingredients group, which focuses on high-value ingredients for food, pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Using state of the art research and application centres as well as factory linked pilot plants combined with a …

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Image provided by Ohly

Ingredients

Sponsored Post

Native yeast protein to replace eggwhite – Ohly showcases new gelling protein prototype

One of the toughest challenges that all manufacturers of meat alternatives are commonly facing is the combined need for an appealing and consistent texture as well as a consumer-friendly ingredient deck. To support customers meeting this challenge, and address many more opportunities, Ohly has developed and patented a brand-new type of yeast-based functional ingredient. Rooted in our decades of experience in yeast and its derivatives, we created a native yeast protein concentrate with inherent gelling function. Based on our prime grown baker’s yeast, it is produced without the use of any chemical modification process. Being fully soluble, this protein can be easily incorporated into many types of matrices & formulations. It will irreversibly gel in the matrix upon heating, and therefore nicely mimic meat or …

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Super Nooch Notorious Nooch Co

©Notorious Nooch Co

Products & Launches

Notorious Nooch Co Launches Super-Hero Themed, Vitamin-Packed Super Nooch

The Notorious Nooch Co launches Super Nooch. With over 100% NRV of B12, the product reportedly contains more B vitamins than any other nutritional yeast on the market, and is super-hero themed in accordance with the release of the new Batman film today. Nutritional yeast has become a staple ingredient for vegans over recent years, coveted for its umami qualities and naturally occurring cheese flavour. The yeast is a deactivated ingredient and overall nooch is a convenient and delicious way for both vegans and non-vegans to obtain B12. Says Wholefood Warrior aka Eva Humphries, leading BANT Registered Nutritionist, DipION, mBANT, and CNHC: “Nutritional yeast may serve as a good source of Vitamin B12 for those on a plant-based diet. B12 is vital for energy production …

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Yeap Upcycled Yeast Protein

© Yeap

Company News

Aleph Farms Founder Launches Yeap Upcycled Yeast to Disrupt the Alt Protein Market

Yeap upcycled yeast could be on the cusp of providing a sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable protein to seriously disrupt the plant-based industry. The brainchild of cultivated meat pioneer Didier Toubia – CEO of Aleph Farms – Israel-based Yeap leverages spent yeast after fermentation.  “A protein that can do it all; flavorful, clean, nutritious, sustainable, and last but not least, inexpensive”  As first reported by Food Navigator, Yeap’s technology develops protein from yeast that is a byproduct from other industries, including breweries. The process is further simplified by the fact that any yeast strain can be used by Yeap to create a functional concentrated protein.  The protein will be a cost-effective alternative for various food segments, including the alt dairy and alt meat markets currently dominated …

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Because Animals Noochies

Image courtesy of Because Animals

Pet Food

Startup Making Pet Food Without Meat Launches Nutritional Yeast Dog Cookie

Because Animals Inc., a bioscience startup making pet food without animal meat with the use of cultured ingredients, officially announces the launch of its first dog cookie, Noochies. Because Animals’ first cultured product, a probiotic supplement, debuted in 2018. Its marquee product, a revolutionary line of cultured meat pet food products, will be released in 2021.

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