Precision fermentation: a food production system for a sustainable future

The burgeoning human population and climate change pose an impending threat for global food security. There is a considerable effort underway to reduce the carbon footprint of Global agriculture production and plant-based meat and dairy products have a great potential to make significant contributions in this endeavour.

My talk will focus on the work being carried out Australian start up Nourish Ingredients in the production of fats and oils via fermentation of fungi and yeast to enhance the mouthfeel aroma and taste of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives. Lipids play an important role in flavour development of meat. They contribute to the formation of  odour impact volatiles through thermal degradation, interactions with other components and they also serve as a flavour delivery system. I will describe how extensive sensory analysis is being harnessed at Nourish to generate detailed maps of volatiles that contribute to the flavour profile of different types of meat like steamed, boiled or fried chicken pork and beef. For example, steaming and boiling contribute to the formation of volatiles such as alcohols, aldehydes and ketones that mostly originate from thermal degradation of lipids. Grilling on the hand influences formation of Maillard reaction products such as pyrazine, furans and other lipid derived oxidation products. We are applying this knowledge to produce tailored biomass and lipids, via fermentation, that can be added to plant-based meats to enhance flavour and texture to produce a more authentic meat experience-both in terms of mouth feel and taste. I will also describe our synthetic biology pipeline geared at developing engineered yeast strains that can deliver tailored lipids via precision fermentation for plant based dairy and applications.