Every year, the Future Food Tech trade show in Chicago attracts the 400 biggest players in the food industry of the future, on the lookout for the latest trends, particularly in the field of alternative proteins, the theme chosen this year. Non-for-profit organizations like Genopole are also among the influential players in the sector, providing support to startups to optimize their search for partners and investors for their R&D.
As an illustration of this support, Hélène Virasith, Program Manager at Genopole, led this mission with three Genopolitan startups, Nutropy, AuraLIP and Onima, thanks to a revitalization agreement with Carrefour managed by the Essonne Prefecture. This is an opportunity for them to showcase their innovations on the other side of the Atlantic, and to learn more about the peculiarities of the North American market.
The Alternative Proteins
This year’s congress focused on the development of alternative proteins:
- How can we meet the protein needs of 10 billion people in 2050?
- How can we design a diet that is both more sustainable and adopted by consumers?
- How can industrial production be achieved at lower cost?
After an all-out craze, the Food Tech sector is moving towards the design and marketing of products containing both plant-based proteins (peas, soy…) and proteins derived from precision fermentation.
“There’s a real appetite for proteins in the USA. The words ‘Proteins’ on the packaging are a big selling point,” noted Laetitia Halbeisen, founder and co-director of AuraLIP (1st right in photo), which is developing a fermentation technology for the production of hemp-based plant proteins. “We met industrials who were very curious about our innovation, especially as Americans are very familiar with hemp, which they consume a lot in the form of food supplements. We sowed the seeds for the development of AuraLIP and understood the specificities of the North American market”.
Nathalie Rolland, co-founder and President of Nutropy (2nd from left in photo), makes the same observation about the favorable evolution of the agri-food sector: “No one disputes the validity of the search for alternative proteins anymore. Everyone knows that relying solely on livestock farming is not a long-term solution, and that it is essential to explore alternatives to reduce environmental impact. This was clearly demonstrated at the show. Manufacturers are delighted to discover innovations like ours, which respond to the sustainable development issues they face. Our field, that of precision fermentation for milk protein production, is attracting a great deal of interest, which is growing year after year… all the more so as the size of the market is gigantic and the competition quite small. Very few start-ups worldwide are developing these caseins.
Why is this?
Because the technology is highly complex and requires the use of expensive biotech equipment right from the start-up’s inception, when it has no resources of its own.
That’s Genopole’s big advantage. Nowhere else in the world have I found such an effective biotech startup support program!”
The Genopole team, supported by the French American Chamber of Commerce (FAAC), was able to push open many doors:
- talk to the head of the US plant protein business, Ensemble Food, a subsidiary of French sugar group Tereos and the world’s second-largest producer of wheat proteins
- visit a Roquette plant, world leader in plant-based ingredients, located in Gurnee, north of Chicago. The plant produces sorbitol, a sweetening additive used in candy, chewing gum, surimi, toothpaste, etc. Sorbitol is synthesized from starch recovered from another Roquette plant in the USA, thus demonstrating an eco-circular organization.
By going on site, the Genopole’s startups benefited far more than from webinars and other video meetings. “We were able to gauge the specifics of entering the American market” notes Juan Londono, co-founder and COO of Onima (center of photo), a biotech company that transforms brewer’s yeast into a protein-, fiber- and nutrient-rich food ingredient that can be used in a variety of recipes (cookies, snacks, sports nutrition, etc.). “Discussions with manufacturers helped us understand the differences in consumption patterns compared with our European perception“.
The North American relationship with food is far removed from our own, as testified by the US director of Italian pasta brand Rana, who had to adapt his recipes to offer a product with a much stronger taste than in Europe, and ready to eat without even the effort of boiling water!
Juan Londono concludes: “All these key players in the Chicago food world, whom we met at the conference and during our visits, provided us with excellent advice, and are invaluable points of contact for potential development on the continent”.
