València (EFE).- Manufacturing proteins that help the production of vegan and cruelty-free cultured meat is the object of the line of research carried out by the Valencian company MadeInPlant, within its participation in a Spanish consortium set up to obtain aid from the Agri-food part.
To obtain these healthy proteins, the biotech works on cultured meat accelerator ingredients, an alternative to traditional meat, which it achieves through the genetic reprogramming of plants.
bovine serum
This type of protein is present in fetal bovine serum, a by-product obtained from the bleeding of animals during slaughter and which may have impurities and present unwanted effects, such as contamination.
Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is the most commonly used supplement in cell culture because it contains this type of protein, and what MadeInPlant proposes is a substitute: to produce these proteins in plants that allow faster growth of cultured meat, without impurities. , which can be certified vegan and animal free.
To do this, they infect the plants with plant viruses from which the pathogenic part is eliminated while maintaining the reproductive part, that is, they produce the accelerator ingredients under the wake of a virus infection, as explained to EFE by the doctor in Biotechnology Federico Grau, one of the of the promoters of the company together with five other CSIC researchers.
genetically modify plants
“We can introduce genetic information into plants so that they are capable of producing proteins that, by themselves, they are incapable of making” to create ingredients with three values: they decrease production costs, provide the commercial value of vegan meat and “cruelty free ”, and save the cost of fetal bovine serum and its potential unwanted effects, according to the researcher.
The project began in April in the molecular biology laboratory and in the pilot plant (biological containment greenhouse) of the AgrotecUV incubator of the University of Valencia on the Burjassot Campus (Valencia), of which MadeInPlant is a part.
The company, with three researchers, is dedicated to the production of “plant-based” ingredients useful in various sectors such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agri-food and research.
MadeInPlant emerged in 2021 thanks to the impulse of five CSIC researchers, who are external partners and act as advisors. In 2022, it closed a round of seed capital financing and entered AgrotecUV.
Federico Grau, an agricultural engineer and doctor in Biotechnology, drew up the business plan during the pandemic after a few years dedicated to technology transfer and valorization.
At the end of last year, the company carried out two product tests and, when it saw that the project was feasible, it was submitted to the Agrifood Department. “Our protected technology allows us to design unique approaches,” says Grau.
Valencian participation in “From green to healthy”
A group of 25 Spanish food companies from seven communities have formed the “From Green to Healthy” consortium, which includes 30 projects with a total budget of 111 million, of which they aspire to receive 64 million in the form of aid linked to the Agri-food Perte .
The Incotec consultancy coordinates the members of the project, who come from Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Galicia and Murcia.
In the consortium, MadeInPlant is integrated into the value chain related to sustainable proteins, along with fourteen other companies.
There are two other value chains, one of them for healthy drinks and the other for confectionery and desserts, in which two other Valencian companies participate: Formatgeria Granja Rinya and Postres Lácteos Romar.