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Happy Tuesday Market Shakers. Welcome to the penultimate part of our Alt-Protein Primer series. A few weeks back we learned about extrusion, a key technology used in alt-protein processing. But, it’s not the only way to texturize and process alternative proteins.

Recently, technologies like 3D printing are emerging as alternatives to low and high moisture extrusion to form and texturize alt-proteins. Experts are excited about the potential of these technologies. They can replicate the texture, shape, structure and mouth-feel of our meat and fish analogues more authentically than ever before. What’s more, they can do this using fewer resources than conventional extrusion. 

This article introduces four of the alt-protein processing and texturizing technologies to watch. You’ll learn more about how the technology works, what the opportunities and challenges ahead are, and who’s using it.

We also feature the voices of two leaders in the alt-protein space who tell us more about the exciting technologies that we cover:

• Ramkumar Nair, founder and CEO of Mycorena AB, a company making B2B vegan protein analogues by fermenting mycelium.

• Varun Gadodia, Co-Founder of SeaSpire, a company developing the technology to 3D print seafood analogues.

Let’s dive in!

#1 - Shear Cell Technology

What is it?

Shear cell technology is a recent invention of Wannegian University. The process involves placing the alt-protein mixture between two cylinders. The cylinders are heated and cooled while rotating. The changing temperature and pressure - “shear” - create a textured structure for the alternative protein mix. Watch a detailed webinar on the tech here.

Why should you be excited?

The advantage of this process is that it is less resource intensive than conventional extrusion. It is also less harsh than extrusion so it can produce a softer, fibrous, and more nutrient-rich product. 

Shear cell also potentially offers greater control over production parameters thanks to the ability of the equipment to tightly manipulate the rotation speed of the cylinders.

What are the challenges?

Scaling shear cell technology is the biggest challenge. The technology is relatively new and is not widely used for processing protein analogues outside of the team who invented it. In order to see broader use and applications, we would ideally see more support for the technology from industry players.

Who’s using it?

Rival Foods

Rival Foods is the only company we could find that uses Shear Cell Technology for commercial products. The Netherlands-based company produces authentic plant-based whole-cut products such as tenderloin and Chick’n filets.

#2 - 3D Printing

What is it?

Bioprinting, or 3D printing, uses “cartridges” of semi-solid raw material mixture, sometimes called bio-ink, and prints meat structures through a nozzle. 

3D printing leverages computer-automated design (CAD) to achieve precise printing of meat structures by following a digital blueprint. Products may be processed further after printing. Cultured meats for example may be incubated to allow the stem cells to differentiate into the fat and muscle cells that form the tissues found in meat.

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Why should you be excited?

3D printing enables precision fibre creation on a micro level, achieving high-fidelity texture. It has high potential for seafood products which have complex texture structures compared to beef, chicken or pork. It is also less energy and resource intensive than extrusion and shear cell processing. 

Depending on the device, it is possible to take a broad range of feedstocks: cultured, plant-based, fermentation-based, or the current approach - using a mixture of these. 3D printers are generally smaller in scale and require lower volumes of ingredients than an extruder to do a production run. This can allow for rapid product iteration.

According to Varun Gadodia, Co-Founder of SeaSpire, a company developing innovative bio-printing technology for seafood alternatives:

Eventually, we’re aiming for on-demand/ on-site production, at local restaurants, supermarkets, etcetera. Of course we can also make bioprinters the centre of a conventional manufacturing operation. An interesting example is Aleph Farms who bio-printed cell-based meat on the international space station.

What are the challenges?

Scale, scale and scale! Bioprinting cannot support the production of cheap commodity alt-meat products because price points and the complexity of technology could not support the mass scale of production required. We can do speciality cuts like wagyu or sirloin, and speciality fillets like salmon, snapper or lobster. We can’t do cheaper commercial-scale products like codfish or shrimp. 

Varuna Gadodia, Co-Founder of SeaSpire

While scaling is a challenge, the current food supply chain is not designed with bioprinting in mind. According to Varun, the food and beverage industry needs to develop new supply chain models, such as decentralized production, to support emerging technology.

Another issue is that the technology requires significant development. Printing speeds are currently slow (as much as 30 minutes for 1cm cubed according to some reports) and most equipment is lab-scale only right now. 

We require a lot of deeptech activity within engineering, robotics and other allied areas to realize a vision where bioprinting becomes widespread. 

Varun Gadodia Co-Founder of SeaSpire

It will certainly take time for 3D printing to become a scalable part of food production. However, it’s an area to watch that is receiving increasing amounts of attention and investment.

Who’s using it?

Plantish

The company we introduced in our alt-seafood series 3D prints soy-based salmon which is nutritionally similar to the model fish. 3D printing enables Plantish to achieve a product structurally similar to a boneless salmon fillet which reportedly cooks in the same way.

Redefine Meat

Redefine Meat uses proprietary 3D printing and plant-based “ink” formulation to print a variety of meat substitutes with authentic meat textures and appearance.

SeaSpire

SeaSpire is developing proprietary technology to 3D print seafood alternatives. The technology will eventually be species agnostic, able to print all kinds of seafood with varying inputs.

#3 - Mycoprotein Fermentation

Mycoprotein naturally forms fibrous meat-like structures during fermentation so doesn’t necessarily need to be extruded or bio-printed (though it can be!) after post-fermentation treatment. 

According to Ramkumar Nair, Founder and CEO of Swedish mycoprotein food-tech company, Mycorena:

Our ingredients don’t need any further processing steps per se. We apply our own black-box treatment steps to our mycelium biomass, after the fermentation process. But after this, our customers could use the product as is. They can then do further preparation with the ingredient, to produce the end application vegan products of their choice.

Why should you be excited?

You will remember from previous articles that there are three main types of fermentation. Mycoprotein is commonly produced using the biomass fermentation method. Here fungi mycelium is fermented with a liquid growth media, like sugar. This helps mycelium grow rapidly, forming nutrient-rich biomass in a very short space of time. 

Alternatively, microbes can be grown using solid-state fermentation, where microbes are inoculated onto a moistened solid feedstock that may be enclosed or even grown in the open air.

These processes are much less resource intensive than a lot of plant-based protein production. As mycelium naturally forms fibres, there’s also less need for energy-intensive processing steps like extrusion.

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A big part of mycelium fermentation’s benefits is the fungi strain itself, explains Ramkumar:

There are hundreds of thousands of strains of fungi. Ours is proprietary and produces a product with excellent texture and no taste, flavor or aroma. We call it a “boring” ingredient, but it’s packed full of potential nutrients compared to pea or soy protein for example, which require a lot of additional ingredients to mask their off-tastes and flavors.

Then there’s the place where the magic happens, the fermentor. To date, most companies have fermentors which have been designed for other processes i.e beer brewing. A big opportunity in the field of fermentation is custom-designed fermentors for alt-protein production.

Our fermentation process is a big part of our business. We custom build fermentors with our engineering company, in addition to post-fermentation treatment tech. We’re designing equipment that really enhances the mycoprotein fermentation process - setting us apart from other alt-protein producers.

Ramkumar Nair, Founder and CEO of Mycorenaena

What are the challenges?

There are unique challenges for fermentation also. Despite the technology's potential, few companies have achieved commercial scale, other than U.K.-based Quorn.

A major reason for this according to Ramkumar is the fact that the industry is still new.

We began Mycorena in late 2017. At the time, there were very few players in the fermentation, or even alt-protein space. 5 years later and mycoprotein fermentation is still a white space.

What the industry lacks now is a back-end. The infrastructure to produce at scale isn’t there. That’s what we’re building now.

But, being focussed on building our own processes and technology, we can’t just copy and paste from Quorn. For us this means a lot of trial and error, but in the long term we see real value in developing unique, highly efficient processes.

Who’s using it?

Mycorena

This company developing B2B ingredients from mycelium was founded in Sweden in 2017. Their protein, Promyc, has a neutral flavour profile, and high nutritional and textural value, making it an excellent blank canvas for food scientists.

The Better Meat Company

Based in the U.S., The Better Meat Company produced a range of B2B proteins, Rhiza, from mycelium. 

Aqua Cultured Foods

Also based in the U.S., Aqua Cultured Foods leverages biomass fermentation to make whole-cut, sushi-grade seafood analogues. The company recently made headlines with the announcement of its alt-seafood dumplings which target the Asian market.

#4 - Fibre-spinning

What is it?

Animal proteins naturally form long fibrous structures. These contribute to the