Fermentation Technique for Plant-Based Meat

Fermentation is a powerful, flexible process that uses the natural metabolism of microorganisms to produce alternative proteins, from anti-aging cosmetics to vegan alternatives to dairy products. Fermentation has been used in food production for thousands of years. Ancient civilizations used microbial cultures to preserve food, make alcoholic beverages, and enhance the nutritional value and bioavailability of foods ranging from yogurt to tempeh. Fermentation technology now extends to a broader range of applications and has many uses in the field of alternative proteins. Alternative protein production is often more efficient than traditional meat production. Different types of fermentation offer several unique advantages that can further improve the efficiency of the entire plant-based meat industry. Advances in fermentation technology will help plant-based food manufacturers provide healthier, better-tasting products.

Solutions

As more and more people continue to adopt vegan and vegetarian lifestyles, there is a growing need to understand and expand plant-based meat processing technologies. Lifeasible is committed to using fermentation technology to design and build plant-based proteins of any size, shape, and fiber texture to create healthy and delicious alternatives to traditional meats.

Our team of experts is screening hundreds of microorganisms to find the ones that can transform undesirable flavors into pleasant ones, resulting in better tasting plant-based meats. We offer the following solutions to produce plant-based meats in the fermentation process.

• Conventional Fermentation for Plant-Based Meats

This is a process that alters food through anaerobic digestion by microorganisms. We provide complete live microorganisms to process ingredients of plant origin to produce plant-based proteins with different flavors, textures, and nutrients, such as pea protein.

• Biomass Fermentation for Plant-Based Meats

We use the high protein content and rapid growth of microorganisms to efficiently create large quantities of protein-rich foods. The microorganisms that multiply in this process are themselves components of alternative proteins.

• Precision Fermentation for Plant-Based Meats

This process focuses on the production of specific functional ingredients using microorganisms. Fermentation technology also creates clean label plant-based meats as flavor enhancers. Our precision fermentation technology allows plant-based protein producers to efficiently create specific proteins, enzymes, flavor molecules, vitamins, colors, and fats.

In addition, for cultured meats, we offer precision fermentation to efficiently produce the nutrients and growth factors needed for cell culture media. Our carefully engineered fermentations produce proteins such as collagen or fibronectin that can be used as key animal-free ingredients in more complex meat scaffolds.

Advantages of Fermentation Technology

• Conventional fermentation can optimize the digestibility, taste, texture, and nutrient content of existing plant-based ingredients.
• Biomass fermentation can produce large amounts of protein quickly.
• Ingredients made from biomass fermentation or precision fermentation can be combined with plant-based ingredients to make better plant-based meats.
• Fermented plant-based proteins can provide the sensory experience and positive nutritional aspects of animal products without undesirable substances such as cholesterol, antibiotics, and hormones.
• Fermentation can be used to address some of the sensory challenges facing the plant-based meat industry.

As consumer expectations rise, we are turning to traditional and biomass fermentation techniques to match the taste, texture, and nutritional content of meat. Combining the indigenous wisdom of classic food fermentation with the breakthrough success of the plant-based meat industry, we are building a robust fermentation technology platform to transform plant-based proteins. Feel free to contact us for more information.