Tuna paste, a board of cheeses, roast turkey, cooked cod, vegetables, wine, cakes and a cup of coffee… the Christmas dinner is an essential part of Christmas, and its preparation is a great chance for families to come together.
Unsurprisingly, the current farming practices are not sustainable, and this is where Biotechnology comes in.
Well, and if we tell you that it is possible to produce some of those products by using microbes? Yes, those very small organisms that we cannot visualise with the naked eye. Actually, they seem real “factories”, where each “machine” (scientifically called organelles) play different roles. So, if we change the “factories” (microbes) operation, we can obtain a different final product.
Let's see what alternatives we can find for this Christmas Dinner menu.
ENTREES:
Tuna paste
Pâtés are considered versatile and simple entrees, which match perfectly with mini toasts, and can be prepared with a huge variety of ingredients, including tuna. And what did an American Biotech company create?
Good Catch produced a plant-based tuna. Indeed, this company is focused on the production of plant-based seafood, by using legumes for texture and protein, and algae oil for seafood flavor and omega-3 DHA (docosaheaenoic acid). Therefore, they are helping to preserve the ocean’s natural resources while providing plant based protein options that have the rich flavours and textures of seafood.
Cheeses
Cheeses are entrees we often find on the dinner table before the main meal, or even after. Traditionally, cheese is made using cow, goat or sheep milk. However, the production of 1 litter of milk requires about 1 thousand liters of water, animal breeding uses lots of land resources and produces high amounts of greenhouse gases, and even dairy allergies are one of the most common food allergies in children. The food Biotech industry is aware of this and is trying to find out alternatives. Curiously, several biotech companies are already working on this!
A California startup, New Culture, is using microbial fermentation to produce caseins, which are milk proteins that give cheese its stretchy quality. As they state, it is a “cow cheese without the cow” – more sustainable, delicious, healthy, lactose free, and completely animal free.
And Real Vegan Cheese has also engineered their yeasts to become milk-protein factories. Actually, through synthetic biology, they can produce animal-free-milk proteins, and combining them with water and vegan oil, they make a vegan milk which is converted into Real Vegan Cheese. It seems simples, doesn’t it?
Motif Ingredients is also working on this field and produces alternatives to dairy proteins using microbial fermentation and supply them to food makers.
More, Perfect Day, an American company, took the genetic code for caseins and the main proteins in whey (a by-product of cheese-making), and through microbial engineering and fermentation, could produce animal-free dairy proteins. So, they can be used in the production of vegan and lactose-free cheeses, as well as yogurts and ice-creams.
MAIN COURSE:
Meat meal
At home of several countries, meat has the main role at Christmas Eve dinner. In Denmark, we can usually find roast pork on the dinner table, in the Philippines roast suckling pig, in Germany goose, in U.S.A. roast beef, and in UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the traditional roast turkey. The food biotech industry is well aware of the problems associated with the farming of animals, so it is developing animal and environmental friendly alternatives.
Mosa Meat, hosted in the Netherlands, is the European leading company in this field. In 2013, this company produced the first lab-meat, made by growing cow cells, on an industrial scale.
Impossible Foods also aims to turn plants into meat, but they go further, they could create a plant-based heme. But what is it, “heme”? It is a natural and essential molecule that contains iron, and is what makes blood red and meat pink/red. Besides being found naturally in fairly high concentrations in the blood of humans and other animals, heme can be also found in plants in much lower concentrations. So, basically what did this company do? As explained by Impossible foods: “We started by using the heme-containing protein from the roots of soy plants. It’s called soy leghemoglobin. We took the DNA from soy plants and inserted it into a genetically engineered yeast. And we ferment this yeast—very similar to the way Belgian beer is made. But instead of producing alcohol, our yeast multiply and produce a lot of heme.” Then, they isolated that heme, added it to the other ingredients generating a meaty flavor and texture, and the Impossible Burger was born.
Also, in Israel we can found alternatives to meat in food biotech startups. Super Meat could develop a cultured meat by using cell culture, and Aleph Farms managed to grow pieces of meat from beef cells, using a 3D tissue engineering platform.
Fish meal
At home of other countries, fish is the main character on the table dinner at the Christmas Eve dinner table. In the table of Italian, meat is excluded from the menu, and fish and seafood play a prominent role; and in Mexico and here, in Portugal, cod cannot be missing. Even for these kind of animals, the Biotech industry has already various alternatives to the traditional ones.
As far as cod is concerned, dried salted cod need to be soaked before cooking, and this process of soaking takes several hours (about 30 – 84 hours, depending on the size and type cod). The LANXESS Company in collaboration with Novozymes developed an innovative technology, the X-Zyme process, to become the soaking process more efficient. By using two microbial enzymes (a glucosidase and a protease), the amount of waste and the soaking time reduced, the pelt quality improved, and the entire process became much more efficient.
In Singapore, we can found a biotech company focused on the creation of alternatives to seafood. Shiok Meats is working to bring cell-based crustacean meats (shrimp, crab, lobster) to our table, which are animal-free, environment-friendly, and has the same taste, texture and more nutrients. Also, in U.S.A., Wild Type makes lab-grown seafood.
Vegetables
Vegetables are essential accompaniments to our meals, and even though they are already healthy foods, some biotechnology companies are working to make them even better!
Here, we are showing the example of one American company, Calyxt, which is focused on removing the unhealthy parts of plants and boosting the nutritional benefits that already exist, with no added chemicals or foreign substances. This company does this through gene-edition. For instance, they remove a specific enzyme from potatoes, which prevents the formation of a carcinogenic compound (acrylamide) during cooking.
DRINKS:
Wine
A good wine can never be missed at the table, right? And do you think that wine is always produced only in the traditional way? Actually, the biotech industry has already worked a lot in this field.
Proenol, a Portuguese company, is working on the production and innovation of enzymes, yeasts and other biotechnological solutions for the wine sector, i.e. in order to improve both the production process and the sensorial and/or nutritional qualities of wines.
Renaissance Bioscience, a Canadian company, develops yeast-based technology solutions for food and beverage manufacturers worldwide. One of the commercialized products is a yeast strain that prevent the formation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in wine, avoiding remediation costs and preventing H2S from spoiling wines.
Ava Winery, a startup from San Francisco, is creating cheap and sustainable wine without grapes, yeast or fermentation. So what did the company do? They looked at the molecules responsible for the different tastes, smells and colour, and then recreated them without need for grapes. Actually, this technology saves time and money, producing a wine using 50-100 times less water and no pesticides. So many advantages, right? Now we need only to prove!
Now, imagine if you could drink an alcoholic drink without getting hangover… Yes, it is already possible! ZBiotics, a biotech company from U.S.A., produced a functional beverage with a genetically engineered bacteria designed to break down acetaldehyde, an unwanted byproduct of alcohol that is associated with hangovers. Great, isn’t it?
Coffee
In 2018, a group of American biochemists, food scientists and coffee lovers joined and created a coffee without using coffee beans – the Atomo Molecular Coffee. And how did they do this? First, they evaluated the individual compounds in coffee. Second, they selected the main compounds that contribute to the characteristic aroma and flavour of coffee. Third, they reconstructed the full flavour profile of coffee and eliminated the bitter flavour. Et voilá, a molecular coffee, without using coffee beans and bitterness, was born!
DESSERTS:
Egg Cakes
If you think in a dessert recipe, one of the first ingredients that certainly you will remember is "eggs". And here, in Portugal, we are a great egg lovers! Eggs in cakes, pudding, sweet rice, “King Cake” (in portuguese, Bolo Rei), and much more. But what has Biotechnology created about this, about eggs?
An American Biotech company, JUST created eggs made from plants… specifically, made from a grain legume (Mung bean) protein isolate. JUST Egg gels and cooks like eggs, has a natural golden colour due to the use of turmeric, and contains 5 g of protein/serving (44 mL).
Also, Clara Foods is working on the production of egg white proteins using microbial engineering and fermentation, as opposed to JUST Company.
Sweet and Flavoured Cakes
How many times do we need to add flavours and sweeteners to our desserts? Many times, right? And do you know that it is possible to produce these ingredients using microbes?
Conagen engineers microbes to produce natural products, such as vanilla, floral fragrances, mint flavour, sweeteners, and food colours and preservatives, through fermentation.
Also, Evolva combines modern genetics with microbial fermentation to create natural food ingredients, like resveratrol, stevia sweetener, vanillin and valence.
Moreover, Miraculex is an American food Biotech company focused on the production of natural protein sweeteners and taste modifiers, using both exotic fruits and fermentation technology. These natural sweeteners provide the sweetness that we desire in our desserts, without sugar or negative health impacts.
And here it is, biotechnology helping us doubly, in our nutrition and health!
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