TED - Collagen’s Dirty Secret — and Its Clean Future | Fei Luo | TED
The discussion highlights the development of animal-free collagen by a company called Liveen, founded three years ago. The company uses genetically modified yeast to produce collagen, mimicking the natural process in animals. This innovation aims to provide a sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional collagen, which is typically derived from animal carcasses. The founder, a chemical engineer, was motivated by a personal quest for clean and nutritious food options for her family. She leveraged her expertise in growing microorganisms to create a yeast-based collagen production process. This method involves feeding yeast with sugar in fermentation reactors, similar to beer brewing, to harvest collagen. The company collaborates with colleges and universities for early formulation testing and aims to scale up production to meet global collagen demand without environmental harm or animal slaughter. The vision is to transform supermarkets with slaughter-free products like marbled steaks and rich bone broths, offering health benefits and sustainability.
Key Points:
- Liveen produces animal-free collagen using genetically modified yeast.
- The process involves feeding yeast with sugar in fermentation reactors.
- The goal is to provide sustainable and ethical collagen alternatives.
- Collaboration with academic institutions aids in formulation testing.
- The vision includes transforming supermarkets with slaughter-free products.
Details:
1. 🍲 Tasting the Future: Animal-Free Broth
- A taste test conducted in Los Angeles involved 40 participants, showcasing initial consumer interest in animal-free broth products.
- Participants tried a rich and hearty broth designed to replicate traditional animal-based flavors and textures, highlighting the product's potential to meet consumer expectations.
- The test indicated a growing market trend towards animal-free alternatives, aligning with increasing consumer demand for sustainable and ethical food options.
2. 💪 Collagen in Everyday Life
- A special broth containing collagen is developed without the slaughter of any animals, utilizing a special yeast, making it entirely animal-free. This innovation highlights a sustainable approach to collagen production.
- Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, indicating its crucial role. It supports skin elasticity, joint health, and overall physical well-being, making it a valuable component in supplements and skincare products.
- Everyday products like skincare creams, dietary supplements, and functional foods often contain collagen to leverage its benefits for improving skin texture, reducing joint pain, and enhancing overall health.
3. 🥩 The Role of Collagen in Food
3.1. Collagen's Structural Role in Food
3.2. Collagen in Non-Food Products
3.3. Global Consumption of Collagen
4. 🏭 Collagen Industry and Production
4.1. Collagen Extraction Process
4.2. Consumer Applications of Collagen
5. 🌱 The Search for Collagen Alternatives
- The food industry heavily relies on collagen, and alternatives are not yet equivalent in quality, highlighting a significant gap in product development.
- Current alternative protein products, such as meat and seafood analogs, are mainly available in minced form, lacking whole cut options, which limits their application in various culinary uses.
- Vegan gummies do not replicate the squishiness texture that appeals to mainstream snack consumers, indicating a need for innovation in texture replication.
- Millions of consumers incorporate collagen powder into their daily drinks, and the absence of comparable alternatives suggests a substantial market opportunity for innovators.
- Exploration into plant-based and lab-grown alternatives presents potential solutions, but these require further research and development to match the functional properties of collagen.
6. 🔬 Innovative Collagen Production
- The livestock industry is focusing on future needs for collagen, emphasizing the development of innovative production methods.
- There is a clear need to find alternatives that maintain the irreplaceable functionality of collagen, due to rising ethical concerns and the demand for sustainable solutions.
- The main challenges include creating solutions that are not only effective but also ethical and affordable, addressing both environmental impacts and cost-effectiveness.
- Current efforts in the industry are directed towards developing biotechnological solutions that can replicate the properties of natural collagen without relying on animal sources.
- Examples of innovative approaches include the use of plant-based or lab-grown collagen, which aim to reduce the reliance on traditional livestock sources while maintaining quality and functionality.
7. 👩🔬 Founder's Journey and Mission
- Founded a company called Liveen 3 years ago to produce next-generation collagen without animals.
- The method involves genetically modifying yeast to produce collagen, feeding it sugar in bioreactors, and harvesting the collagen from fermentation broth.
- The founder's background is in chemical engineering, with previous work involving microorganisms to clean up toxic chemicals.
- The journey into food began with a personal quest for clean, nutritious, and delicious plant-based proteins for the family.
- Motivated by a Canadian parental policy allowing a year off work, the founder used this time to explore creating better food ingredients using microbes.
- Collagen was chosen as a focus due to the ease of brewing and its potential impact.
- The company has positioned itself at the forefront of sustainable biotechnological innovations, aiming to replace animal-derived ingredients.
- The founder emphasizes health, sustainability, and innovation as core values driving the company forward.
- Liveen is currently exploring partnerships to scale production and reach international markets.
8. 🌍 Vision for a Sustainable Future
- Collaborations with colleges and universities aim to test early formulations of collagen, assessing its value for alternative proteins.
- Efforts to scale up collagen production focus on meeting demand without increasing cattle numbers or causing deforestation, particularly avoiding the Amazon rainforest.
- A future supermarket vision includes products like slaughter-free steak with perfect marbling, bone broth with rich texture, and collagen-enhanced snacks.
- Emphasis on sustainable, delectable, and healthy food options where each bite benefits both health and the environment.
- Current challenges include ensuring sustainable scaling of production and integrating these new products into consumer markets.
- Strategies to address these challenges involve innovative production techniques and educational partnerships to promote acceptance and understanding of new food technologies.