By Chen Zeng

Fermentation is a process that people used to produce foods for decades. This process traditionally involves the conversion of sugar into alcohol and CO2 by yeast. In recent years, precision fermentation of “animal-free” protein has attracted a lot of attention from consumers and investors. What makes precision fermentation different is not the microbial process itself. Similar to traditional fermentation, yeast used in precision fermentation turns sugar into other ingredients except that no alcohol and CO2 will be produced. According to Good Food Institute, “precision fermentation uses microbial hosts as ‘cell factories’ for producing specific functional ingredients.” And by inserting the target gene into the yeast, yeast can be instructed to produce ingredients that people desire. This might sound like a brand new technology but in fact it has been around since 1980s. At that time, precision fermentation was used to produce human insulin that is used to treat diabetes patients. Before then, insulin used for treatment was derived from animals and this technology has brought down the cost of insulin.

A lot of startups that popped up in recent years are taking this technology into the food industry. What some are calling “animal-free” proteins, like whey, egg, and heme proteins that are identical to their animal counterparts, are being introduced to the market. They are being called “animal-free” as animal DNAs are easily accessible with a simple swap sample or in the online database. By incorporating these animal genes into the yeast, they produce animal ingredients without using the animal themselves. As many people are concerned about the presence of GMOs in the final food products, companies in this field are claiming that no GMOs will be present in the final products and their methods will bring down the environmental impact of animal agriculture and the cost eventually. Also, as novel ingredients, these “animal-free” proteins are not required to be labeled GMOs by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because they do not contain genetically modified organisms. But in Europe where regulation is different, it is uncertain how these ingredients will be labeled. And some that call them “animal-free,” may call them vegan (while many others wouldn’t). However, these proteins are still identical to animal ones and can trigger allergic reactions among those that are allergic to the animal version. Therefore, we are talking about a novel food category that probably requires some new labels to avoid confusion.

Chen has a Masters in Food Science from Cornell.

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