The French multi-national is leveraging precision fermentation to valorize acid whey, a by-product of making cheese, into several value-added components, including urea and casein.
The patented process – which was developed by Standing Ovation, a biotech firm and strategic partner of Bel Group – involves using specific ferments to convert lactose, lactic acid and acetic acid into caseins, we were told. Urea, a common nitrogen fertilizer, is also derived, as are water and salt, which can then be upcycled into saltwater brine. The same process can also be used to derive sugar (from lactose) more efficiently.
“This innovation offers the opportunity to multiply its sources of supply of raw materials – specifically sugar and dairy proteins,” a spokesperson for Bel Group told us.
“From a price point of view, this mitigates the risks associated with the volatility of raw materials and reduces the impact of crises on the cost of producing products. In this way, diversification of supply sources helps to maintain a stable protein price, which reduces the risk of an increase in the price of the finished product.
“In addition, the price of by-products is lower than that of conventional sugar, which, if the value chain is well managed, could make a positive contribution to the final price of proteins.”
Animal-free without the GMO stigma
Importantly, the caseins Bel can obtain from acid whey through the patented process are identical to bovine caseins; with the same amino acids sequence, nutritional value and functionality.
This means that Bel can produce proteins that are technically animal-free, but without the regulatory barriers and negative connotations attached to precision fermentation-derived dairy, where microorganisms such as yeasts are genetically-modified to express dairy-identical proteins.
“This protein made by fermentation is a dairy protein that does not involve an animal and it could play the same role as dairy casein in different products,” the Bel spokesperson said. “We are currently in the experimentation phase and are working on applications within our products. We’re listening to consumers, and we’re going to do our utmost to ensure that our products and our innovations meet their needs before including them in our production process.”
Bel’s foodtech quest for superior alt dairy cheese
Bel has been trialling different technologies to identify or derive animal-free dairy ingredients that would boost its cheese alternatives’ nutritional value, taste and flavor.
The company struck a strategic partnership with Standing Ovation back in 2022 in a bid to accelerate its R&D into precision fermentation-derived dairy proteins. Another notable partnership from 2022 was with Superbrewed Food, focused on developing biomass proteins through fermentation to offer ‘complete’ protein sources with optimal digestibility and organoleptic qualities.
The French multi-national also partnered with biotech company Climax Foods in a bid to leverage machine learning to identify plant-based ingredients that help its plant-based Laughing Cow, Kiri, Boursin, Babybel and Nurishh ranges bridge the functional gap with dairy cheese.
And more recently, there’s the three-year Cocagne project announced in November 2024. Bel, alongside Avril, Lallemand, and Protial, will leverage a €9m ($10.2m) investment to develop fermented or aged plant-based products and cheese alternatives.
All these efforts feed into the company’s overarching sustainability strategy to have a portfolio made up of 50% dairy and 50% fruit and plant-based products.
Also on the tech front, the company is leveraging AI and other digital transformation strategies to reduce time-to-market, optimize formulations, and enhance sustainability, we were told. The company is investing €7.5m ($8.52m) over three years to modernize its Vendôme R&D site in France, where the firm conducts over 2,100 recipe tests per year.
Standing Ovation scales up alt protein production with Tetra Pak
In other news, Standing Ovation recently announced a strategic partnership with packaging giant Tetra Pak, to optimize the industrial production of alternative caseins via precision fermentation.
The partnership includes several strategic components: optimizing downstream processing operations (specifically, improving protein separation and purification); industrial technology support, and designing and building pilot industrial production units.
Standing Ovation hopes this partnership would enable it to scale-up the production of its proprietary animal-free casein and launch it to market.
