Esslingen / Berlin – 17.04.2024

Growing opportunities for our mission 

Our guiding compass at ProteinDistillery is to enable food companies to produce better plant-based foods through clean and functional protein ingredients. With the global human population expected to surpass 10 billion by 2050 (Godfray, H. C. J., 2019), ensuring the safety and resilience of our food systems is one of the biggest challenges ahead. According to numerous studies, part of the challenges of the food industry can be traced back to our heavy reliance on meat production, as it is considered resource-intensive, environmentally harmful, risky for health, and culturally complex. At the same time, the market for plant-based alternatives continues to grow and is expected to reach ~17€ billion in Europe by 2029 (GlobeNewswire, 2022).  Currently 55% of the German population consider themselves flexitarians (BMEL, 2020) – the largest customer of plant-based foods, representing a clear opportunity for this market’s expansion. 

Addressing current gaps in the plant-based foods industry 

While plant-based foods are a key solution to our food systems’ needs, consumers are growingly concerned with their nutritional profile and product qualities. Companies must therefore ensure that they have great functionality, are cost competitive and are ahead of regulatory frameworks. Plant-based alternatives to cheese, meat and such, face the technical challenge of staying authentic to properties like taste and texture, where neither producers nor consumers want to compromise on. On the nutritional side, even though the use of additives such as methylcellulose (MC) and other E-numbers, like xanthan (E15) or carrageenan (E407), are often relevant to the manufacturing of certain food products, consumers are becoming more educated of the potential impacts on their health, such as inflammation or food intolerances. In fact, over 60% of consumers prefer products without any animal-derived components, artificial ingredients or preservatives (Wilson, R. & Walter, P., 2019).  Furthermore, the share of alternative protein consumers is believed to more than double in the next few years if the main inhibitors of nutritional value, safety, functionality, and price were overcome by the food industry. 

Unlocking the exciting applications of Prew:tein™ 

At ProteinDistillery, we developed Prew:tein™, an innovative functional protein ingredient, through biomass fermentation of upcycled brewer’s yeast. Advantages of Prew:tein™ include: a  clean (non-GMO, non-novel food), functional (authentic to texture and taste) and nutritious ingredient (protein content >75% and PDCAAS amino acid score >1). There are several ways in which Prew:tein™ can counter businesses and consumers’ concerns about the current gaps in plant-based foods. On the one hand, by helping to reduce or replace gelatin and egg and, on the other hand, by removing unwanted additives which may increase certain health risks. 

Through research and validations both internally and externally, it has become clear to us that the functionalities of Prew:tein™ are very promising across different market segments in the plant-based industry, as illustrated below: 

• Meat alternatives 

While looking for vegan meat options that replicate the taste, texture of meat, and being nutritious, consumers often run into the same shortcomings of plant-based proteins in terms of off-taste, an undesired texture and low nutritional value. Prew:tein™ offers a sustainable and functional means to overcome these challenges in meat-analogues by acting as a gelling/binding agent offering an authentic taste and a juicy texture in foods such as vegan burger patties, schnitzel and nuggets. 

• Bakery 

Some products may technically struggle to integrate plant-based ingredients that are equally functional and may rely on eggs in their production. Prew:tein lends itself ideally to Bakery applications, such as muffins and sponge cakes, by replacing or reducing the use of price-volatile eggs. It is capable of being soluble and of adding good foaming and emulsion stability offering a holistic solution to plant-based whipping creams, glazes and cakes without impacting taste and moistness. It can improve the texture, viscosity and firmness of bakery mixes, while creating stability at hot temperatures. Prew:tein™ is able to ensure that egg-reduced or replaced products in bakery or food service can also conserve long shelf life as well.  

• Dairy alternatives 

With emulsion being a key functionality for plant-based dairy, Prew:tein™ can provide the right consistency for a better mouthfeel and a smooth texture compared to existing dairy alternatives. In cheese-like products it can adapt to a range of texture properties from meltiness to hardness, and in plant-based, savory spreads it can maintain the right consistency with  great solubility and water binding capacity. As Prew:tein™ has a protein mass of more than 75% and an excellent nutritional profile (PDCAAS >1), it can improve the nutritional profile of plant-based cheeses and spreads. 

We continue to explore the exciting applications of Prew:tein™’s functionalities in the food industry, to uncover the potential of our innovative process and we are excited for the meaningful collaborations ahead. Stay tuned! 

More information about Prew:tein’s applications can be found in our White Paper on Brewers’ Yeast for Meat Alternatives. Additionally,  

Iif you would like to explore a potential collaboration with ProteinDistillery, please fill out a company form and our team will get in touch with you. 

Sources 

BMEL. (2020). Forsa-Befragung des Bundeslandwirtschaftsministeriums zu Fleischkonsum / Ernährungsverhalten. Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Meldungen/DE/Presse/2020/200524-fleischkonsumernaehrungsverhalten.html 

Godfray, H. C. J. (2019). Meat: the Future series Alternative Proteins. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_White_Paper_Alternative_Proteins.pdf 

Meticulous Market Research. (2022, March 30). Europe Plant-Based Food Market Worth $16.7 Billion by 2029 – Exclusive Report by Meticulous Research. GlobeNewswire. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/30/2412865/0/en/Europe-PlantBased-Food-Market-Worth-16-7-Billion-by-2029-Exclusive-Report-by-Meticulous-Research.html 

Wilson, R., & Walter, P. (2019, November 18). How the Clean-Label Megatrend Is Changing the Food Ingredients Landscape. L.E.K. Consulting. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.lek.com/insights/ei/clean-label-food-ingredients