Leprino foods to produce animal-free casein through fooditive group partnership

By Agroempresario.com

Colorado-based Leprino Foods, the leading global producer of mozzarella cheese, has signed a global licensing deal with Dutch startup Fooditive Group. This agreement grants Leprino exclusive rights to produce and distribute animal-free casein proteins using Fooditive’s precision fermentation platform.

As a major supplier of micellar casein, lactose, and whey protein, Leprino Foods now has exclusive worldwide rights to market these animal-free casein proteins for cheese production. Additionally, they hold a nonexclusive license to distribute these proteins for other food applications such as beverages, yogurts, desserts, creamers, snack bars, and sports nutrition products.

Leprino Foods president Mike Durkin stated that the company aims to produce animal-free casein in volumes reaching hundreds of thousands of tons in the coming years. Initially, they plan to scale up production to tens of thousands of tons within the next year, adjusting based on market demand at one of their US plant locations.

Durkin did not specify how products containing animal-free dairy ingredients should be marketed to consumers. However, he emphasized that these products are viewed as complementary to traditional dairy products, not replacements. He believes that conventional agriculture alone cannot meet the world's future food demands, making cost-effective, nutritionally equivalent alternatives essential. Precision fermentation technology, he argued, can help achieve this goal.

Leprino Foods has been monitoring numerous startups in the synthetic biology space. Durkin mentioned that Fooditive stood out due to its advanced genetic development and shared commitment to sustainable and affordable food production.

Founded in Rotterdam in 2018, Fooditive Group differentiates itself by using proprietary E. coli strains designed for superior productivity, yield, and titer, according to CEO Moayad Abushokhedim. This approach ensures high-quality protein production at competitive costs. Unlike some startups focusing on one or two casein proteins, Fooditive has successfully produced all four casein proteins (alpha-s1, alpha-s2, beta, kappa) via precision fermentation. Abushokhedim believes that producing all four is crucial to replicating the functional and nutritional properties of traditional dairy casein.

Fooditive collaborates with CDMOs and third-party production facilities to focus on research, development, and initial market testing at small to medium scales. Leprino Foods will subsequently commence larger-scale manufacturing of these casein proteins. Fooditive plans to submit a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) determination to the FDA in Q4, 2024.

Durkin highlighted that this partnership demonstrates Leprino's ability to innovate and swiftly adapt to emerging trends and technologies. He added that this innovation could enhance their product range while reducing the environmental footprint across the supply chain, maintaining high standards of functionality, quality, taste, and texture.

The term ‘animal-free’ dairy typically refers to products made with dairy ingredients like whey and casein proteins produced without cows, using genetically engineered microbes or crops. Advocates argue that this method offers more sustainable and ethical products while delivering the nutrition and functionality of traditional dairy, such as melty, stretchy cheese, which is difficult to achieve with plant proteins.

Key players in the precision fermentation dairy sector include Perfect Day, New Culture, Change Foods, Imagindairy, Remilk, Formo, Those Vegan Cowboys, Bon Vivant, Standing Ovation, Vivici, Eden Brew, Zero Cow Factory, Real Deal Milk, Better Dairy, and De Novo Foodlabs. These startups face challenges in scaling up, particularly with the current reluctance of venture funds and banks to invest in capex projects without significant market validation.

Despite these challenges, the sector has seen early market entries from small brands like Strive FREEMILK and Bored Cow, with larger CPG companies like Unilever and Nestlé beginning to explore the space through their brands Breyers and Orgain.