Fooditive develops food industry’s first vegan casein using fermentation
The Dutch plant-based ingredient manufacturer, Fooditive Group, aims to change the opinion toward GMO foods through its innovative ingredients. After great success with its upcycled natural sweetener, the company is now expanding to animal-free dairy proteins.
“Making healthy and affordable food for everyone means that we simply need to target every aspect of our diet, and animal-free products should definitely be a part of it. Delivering ingredients that have been produced sustainably is the main key to a long- lasting future that can support the growing human population,” said Moayad Abushokhedim, founder and CEO of Fooditive.
The company, through its unique precision fermentation process, has been expanded from creating sweeteners to the development of a casein powder without the use of animals. Since casein is one of the main proteins in milk that gives its unique texture, taste, and functionality, the Fooditive team has used the power of food science to deliver an ingredient with all the features of the real animal protein.
“We understand that the production of food-grade genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is subject to constant debate due to the combination of negative consumer perceptions and the distrust of conglomerates. Our aim is to change that by showing the food industry and the end consumers an innovative approach to create sustainable products,” said Niki Karatza, Product Manager of Fooditive.
The goal of the company is to be able to deliver on the demand for milk in the coming years and to eradicate the downsides of factory farming, lactose, hormones, and antibiotics.
“We believe in making milk protein that’s a little better for everyone,” said Abushokhedim. His strong food science background and his expertise in food fermentation has allowed him to develop his unique process of creating affordable plant-based ingredients, simply by using the magic of fermentation.
The key to producing Fooditive’s vegan casein was to first understand the milk formula. This helped the team to re-create an animal-free version of milk casein, by using fermentation and ensuring that the process will be scalable for the food industry.
Fooditive believes this ingredient will be a game-changer in the food industry because it supports the next generation of milk while simultaneously delivering great taste. The ingredient is also versatile as it is suitable for a variety of applications from dairy milk formulations to yoghurt, crèmes, and cheeses to get the melting characteristics.
The ingredient will be the first vegan casein available for applications in the food industry, and there is already an extensive list of food developers and food companies – some of them are big players in the dairy industry – subscribed to test the ingredient in their products. Fooditive plans to debut the vegan casein this year in the market.
“We have been delighted that pioneers and experts in the dairy industry are interested in our vegan casein. We are very much looking forward to seeing the results in all the different applications and work towards revolutionizing the food industry together,” said Abushokhedim.
