Precision fermentation (PF) recreates animal protein or other proteins that are challenging to harvest in nature. The process made food publication Food Dive’s list of 2023 food manufacturing trends. PF uses genetically engineered microflora (yeast or bacteria) to make synthetic meat or fat, essentially creating animal protein without animals. Fermentation occurs when a microbe processes organic substances such as sugar. During fermentation, these microbes produce enzymes, fats, and proteins that contribute to the making of bread, beer, tofu, pickles, vinegar, and wine. In the past century, advances in fermentation have led to the manufacturing of vitamins, solvents, medications, organic acids, and industrial enzymes. Scientists have combined fermentation with precision biology using AI, machine learning, and the cloud, using biotechnologies such as genetic and metabolic engineering, synthetic and computation biology, and bioinformatics. PF takes the process further, making it possible to make foods taste better by customizing molecules. PF has been on the scene for some time. In fact, it was used in the 1980s to create insulin. Later, manufacturers used PF to formulate drugs such as human growth hormone, hepatitis B vaccine, human erythropoietin, and biologics that treated hepatitis C, anemia, AIDS, certain cancers, and multiple sclerosis. At the time, the technology was used primarily in the pharmaceutical industry because the PF process was expensive. However, since this time, the PF process has become less expensive, opening it up for use in many other industries. In addition to foods, PF continues to be used to make pharmaceuticals and has come to be used in the production of detergents, cosmetics, and textiles. Advances in PF technology have led to the creation of the most common PF-produced enzyme, chymosin (FPC), which can replace an enzyme used to make cheese. In 2012, food manufacturers used FPC to make 90 percent of the cheese in the US. Today, almost a third of all manufactured cheese uses PF. Widespread PF adoption has opened it up for more applications. For instance, the Impossible Burger, which appears on the menus of fast-food giants Burger King, White Castle, and Red Robin, is a plant-based burger created with PF-made protein and featuring a meaty taste. PF has also been the launch pad for a number of startups. One company used PF technology to make an animal-free protein similar to eggs, while another developed PF technology to produce nature-identical dairy products. Better Dairy, another startup, is a platform that uses PF technology to replicate the texture and maturation of hard cheese products. PF uses less land than traditional animal farming, which is an important environmental consideration. Each year, farmers raise 80 billion land animals as food sources, which requires 26 percent of the Earth’s ice-free land. In addition, farmers use 33 percent of cropland to feed livestock, which is the main source of deforestation. The use of land to raise livestock has also contributed to 91 percent of the Amazon forest’s destruction. A December 2022 article in Plant-Based News reported that PF could contain the production of protein to feed the world in an area smaller than the greater London area. PF may also help prevent the human-driven extinction of certain species and reverse climate change by converting the forest to a carbon sink.
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