Clara Foods: Cracking the ‘world’s first’ animal-free egg white through fermentation
Clara Foods is working to disrupt the conventional egg market. In the culinary space, the company has successfully used its ingredients to make vegan meringues, pancakes, and scrambled egg alternatives.
FLORA SOUTHEY: Californian start-up Clara Foods has developed a way to produce lab-cultured egg whites that are ‘nature identical’ to proteins found in animal-derived eggs. “We’re creating a technology platform that leverages precision fermentation to create real egg proteins without the chicken in the equation,” explained Chief Technology Officer Ranjan Patnaik…
Rather than go down the plant-based path – as has previously been done with aquafaba, flaxseeds or chia – to mimic egg whites, Clara Foods is focused on making ‘exactly the same, nature identical’ proteins found in eggs through fermentation…
Clara Foods kickstarts the precision fermentation process by mixing two ingredients: sugar and yeast. From there, it uses ‘advanced yeast engineering and fermentation technologies’ to selectively cultivate the ‘perfect strain’ of yeast. The result is a protein ‘tailored for purpose’. “Whether egg albumen for baking, environmentally friendly antimicrobials, or pure, clean protein, our process can make anything,” according to the company…
But it is not all about functionality. Clara Foods claims its products are significantly more sustainable than their animal-produced counterparts. “A fermentation approach will always be better from a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective, compared to the incumbent process and incumbent supply chain of accessing eggs through the poultry industry”…
Clara Foods is working to disrupt the conventional egg market with the development of ingredients for sports nutrition, baking, and other industrial uses. In the culinary space, the company has successfully used its ingredients to make vegan meringues, pancakes, and scrambled egg alternatives…
The egg replacement market has risen in recent years, not least due to growing demand for plant-based alternatives that advance environmental sustainability, health, and animal welfare agendas. According to Future Market Insights, the global egg replacement ingredient market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.8% between 2019 and 2026, with an anticipated value of $1.53bn just five years from now. SOURCE…
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