INFORM September 2024

12 • inform September 2024, Vol. 35 (8)

in calories than animal fat. And since the oil is protected from heat, flavorants and nutrients can be added and retain their potency. Lypid makes plant-based pork belly slices. According to Lee, they are the only multitexture plant-based meat on the market. But, for now, they only sell to food service, not directly to consumers. Their products are served in restaurants in Taiwan and California. PLANT FAT + CULTURED PROTEIN Marcelle Machluf is a professor of biotechnology engineering at The Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. As head of The Lab for Cancer Drug Delivery & Cell Based Technologies her lab made a targeted drug and gene delivery system by draining the contents of mesenchymal stem cells, leaving only the membranes, and then shrinking the mem brane shells down to nano size. But when she became Dean of the faculty and got more contact with her food engineering colleagues, she realized that her technology could be applied to the scalable production of healthier meat alternatives. “Mammalian cells are mammalian cells,” Machluf said. “We know how to engineer them.” Her lab made cultured meat tissue by expanding bovine mesenchymal stem cells on edible chitosan collagen microcar riers. But she knew her product would not mimic meat without fat, so she teamed up with Maya Davidovich-Pinhas, associate professor of biotechnology and food engineering (and 2024 winner of the AOCS Edible Applications Technology Division Outstanding Achievement Award). Davidovich-Pinhas developed an oleogel-based fat substi tute to help achieve the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of meat. Her lab used a combination of direct and indirect methods to make their fat substitute. Oil droplets were structured with glycerol monostearate (GMS) in a protein-aqueous solution using an emulsification procedure, followed by lyophilization. The ultimate formulation of their emulsion was a 20 weight percent canola oil and 4.5 weight percent chickpea protein dispersion. After homogenization, their fat substitute looked, felt, and behaved like beef fat—even upon cooking—and it reduced more than 65 percent of the saturated fatty acid con tent compared to beef while increasing the amount of health ful omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. They combined Machluf’s cultured tissue with Davidovich Pinhas’ fat substitute to make a ground beef analog. Machluf said that “it tastes great, is more nutritious than meat, and can hold its shape and texture during frying and cooking.” Davidovich-Pinhas noted that their oleogel-based fat substi tute can be loaded with different macro and micronutrients to improve its nutritional profile. And since protein based oleo gels are relatively thermostable, their melting behavior can be tailored to different cultured meat products by altering the type and amount of oil structuring agent. Machluf applied for a patent and founded a company, Meatafora. She has plans to make ground chicken and fish products as well, and to sell the chitosan collagen microcarriers system to others who want to cultivate their own cells as a protein source.

A piece of pork belly created by Lypid with PhytoFat™ incorporated into the product.

PLANT FAT + ANY PROTEIN KaYama Foods, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, was co-founded by Gad Harris, a chemical processing and environmental engineer, and lifelong vegan who worked in oil recycling and in an alternative protein company before starting this alternative fat company. “Fat has a biochemical role to play during cooking,” he said. “It should be present and free to participate in reactions with proteins and other ingredients to generate flavor and aroma compounds. If it is bound up in an emulsion, it is not free to take part in those reactions.” Moreover, he notes, the excess water in emulsions hinders these vital reactions. KaYama’s product is thus not an emulsion. It is a struc tured plant oil—sunflower, canola, soy, olive, whatever healthy local oil you like, plus phytonutrients. It does not involve water, protecting the fat from undesirable oxidation and leaving it free to react during cooking. KaYama’s patented formula pro cess does not change the chemical structure of the oil, but gives it a physical structure that retains its healthful qualities while allowing it to act like animal fat. As Harris put it, KaYama’s technology “decouples the degree of fat saturation from its solid structure and function ality.” And since their goal is maximal health and sustainability impacts, they hope to sell their alternative fat product to any food processor to mix with whatever type of protein best suits their need: plant-based, fermented, or cultivated. To address the global challenges of human health, food insecu rity, and climate change, food science researchers are devel oping innovative ways to replace saturated fat and promote protein alternatives based on plant, cell culture, and fermen tation. According to experts, within two decades 60 percent of meat sold globally will be from an alternative protein source (https://tinyurl.com/4u3w3anc). As you have read, AOCS mem bers are a key component to achieving that future. Diana Gitig earned her PhD in cell biology and genetics from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City. She writes about cell and molecular biology, immunology, neuroscience, and agriculture for arstechnica.com.