PoLoPo, CSM Ingredients partner on egg-free egg protein

The protein, grown with potatoes, aims to provide bakery producers a plant-based alternative.

Courtesy of PoLoPo

PoLoPo, a molecular farming outfit, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CSM Ingredients (a company offering food ingredient research, innovation, and production). The companies will work together to bring PoLoPo’s egg-free egg protein grown in potatoes to the commercial baking market.

CSM and PoLoPo will collaborate on developing PoLoPo’s ovalbumin powder for baking requirements, including foaming, gelation, and water binding functions, as well as provide side-by-side assistance with process optimization, regulatory, and safety requirements.

Commercial baking and other CPG food categories use ovalbumin for several functional properties, such as texture, thickening, and increasing shelf life. Ovalbumin from molecular farming reportedly offers the same performance in an ingredient that is cleaner, more sustainable, more affordable, and more price-stable. Popular applications for ovalbumin include pastries like croissants, muffins, and doughnuts.

In addition, CSM Ingredients Group has selected PoLoPo for Generate, CSM Ingredients Group’s innovation hub for ingredient startups and food concepts. Generate offers R&D expertise, application opportunities, use of facilities, and commercial support to its startups, including validating proofs of concept, shepherding market entry, and access to CSM business networks. Venture and innovation firm Urika Partners leads global innovation for CSM, facilitates the Generate program, and engages with all teams to accommodate the program's needs and progress.

“Startups like PoLoPo are visionary innovators that play a pivotal role in developing concepts and pushing boundaries, and CSM is committed to bring these innovations to the broader food value chain,” says CSM Ingredients Group Managing Director Christian Sobolta. “The global market for ovalbumin powder is projected to reach $36 billion by 2032, and PoLoPo presents an opportunity to change the dynamics of this category in a way that benefits planet and profits.”

“This non-exclusive collaboration enhances our strengths and capacity in meaningful ways, from R&D to implementation to opening more doors with packaged food companies that want to work with the product,” remarks PoLoPo CEO Maya Sapir-Mir. “Commercial baking is clearly a key lane for us, and CSM’s technical and commercial expertise is strategically valuable for reaching that industry.”

PoLoPo reportedly uses metabolic engineering techniques to turn potato plants into “micro-biofactories.” Potato plants manufacture and store the target proteins in the tuber. Tubers are harvested when they reach sufficient size, then their proteins are extracted and dried into a functional protein powder that is said to integrate seamlessly into current food processing lines and formulations.

PoLoPo’s first target protein, ovalbumin, reportedly will present a cost-effective alternative to an industry reeling from increased egg prices, supply chain instability, and avian flu outbreaks. The company has submitted for USDA regulatory approval, expected within six months, at which point U.S. partners and growers may begin cultivating PoLoPo’s potato plants.

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