NEW YORK, July 18 — How would you like a plant-based protein powder Babybel? The Bel Group, which owns major cheese brands like the Laughing Cow, plans to use a new ingredient derived from biomass fermentation to produce a vegan alternative to its traditional cheese recipes. And it doesn’t involve soy or cashew nuts.

Rehydrating cashews or blending soy yogurt with olive oil and tofu are the two main recipes for making dairy-free cheese. The vegan alternatives to Camembert, cheddar and feta that result from these processes try to come as close as possible to mimicking a traditional cheese platter, but not without difficulty. In the future, a new ingredient could pave the way to developing more promising vegan cheeses. And that ingredient is a protein derived from the fermentation of biomass.

What is it?

An American startup, called Superbrewed Foods, has made this protein powder a core part of its business. It discovered the existence of this substance by questioning the capacity of certain animals, such as gorillas or elephants, to develop hefty muscle mass while feeding only on plants. Following the same fermentation steps used to produce beer, this food tech company has developed a protein ingredient from microorganisms naturally found in plants that have the ability to transform plant fibers.

In practical terms, the result looks like a powder. Last year, private investors invested some US$45 million (RM200 million) in the technology developed by this company, based in the US state of Delaware, in order to make this new ingredient a basis for food products free from animal proteins. From a nutritional point of view, this new product appears to be promising, since it contains no less than nine essential amino acids, but also minerals, iron, phosphorus and magnesium. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, just 30g of this protein powder meets requirements for a "good source” of five B vitamins.

What next?

For consumers, this discovery will become an in-store reality thanks to a partnership between the startup and the Bel Group, a French multinational that owns several globally popular cheese brands, such as Laughing Cow and Babybel. It has decided to develop a complete range of cheeses with this ingredient and to offer these new products to consumers very soon, the Group explains on its website. For its part, Superbrewed Foods had said it expects to market its protein in the first half of 2023.

The subject of vegan cheese is a long-standing project for the Bel Group. Last year, it already unveiled a vegan version of its Babybel. In its dairy-free form, the small circular cheese, with its iconic wax shell, had an adapted recipe based on a mixture based on coconut oil and starch. And now, the French manufacturer is keen to broaden its vegan cheese offer. — ETX Studio