QL AG, a trailblazing food technology solutions company, has announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) to spearhead the development of dairy proteins using cutting-edge fermentation techniques. QL AG aims to harness Ginkgo's extensive expertise in strain engineering across various organisms to deliver high-quality, nutritionally equivalent dairy proteins to the market.
Addressing Challenges in the Dairy Industry
The dairy industry is grappling with numerous challenges, primarily driven by the impacts of climate change, which have led to a decrease in arable land and water resources. Worldwide, supply chain disruptions are driving up input costs, while consumers increasingly seek healthier, tastier, and sustainable food options. This has given rise to the alternative dairy market, which has seen exponential growth in recent years, valued in the tens of billions of dollars. However, current dairy alternatives often fall short of consumer expectations, particularly in terms of taste and texture.
Roger Föhn, CEO and co-founder of QL AG, commented on the advantages of dairy proteins derived from fermentation, stating, "Dairy proteins derived using fermentation have advantages across many key dimensions, including taste and texture, as well as the fact that they have no arable land requirement and a lower water requirement. By accessing Ginkgo's platform, QL AG can help reduce the cost of producing dairy proteins with fermentation. We are excited to pursue our goal of making a quantum leap in alternative agriculture by leveraging Ginkgo's unique capabilities in producing strains at high titers and scaling fermentation processes."
Unlocking the Potential of Dairy Proteins
Ginkgo Bioworks, renowned for its expertise in protein engineering, bioactivity, and biochemistry, aims to address the challenges that have historically hindered dairy protein development. Kalpesh Parekh, Vice President of Business Development at Ginkgo Bioworks, emphasized their commitment to solving these challenges, stating, "Dairy proteins provide an exciting opportunity to leverage our platform, as they have traditionally presented product developers with significant challenges around protein productivity, economics, and functionality for efficacy across different applications. We aim to solve such challenges with our deep expertise in protein engineering, novel bioactivity and biochemistry identification, high-throughput expression, functional studies, and scale-up capabilities."
This partnership between QL AG and Ginkgo Bioworks signifies a significant step forward in the field of alternative agriculture, with the potential to revolutionize dairy protein production and offer consumers more sustainable and delicious options.