Overview
Alternatives to animal protein are targeted towards disrupting the global meat industry, a >$800B market, with total sales of plant-based foods in 2021 around $10B. To further grow the market share, plant-based foods need improvements in matching meat-based products’ flavour, texture, nutrition, and cooking behaviour. Addressing these challenges is believed to be a significant driver for greater adoption of meat alternatives and satisfying consumer demands.
A significant focus of the Canadian alternative meat industry is supplying pulse-based plant ingredients. However, Ontario has an opportunity to support the alternative meat industry and potentially enable more Canadian-produced products by leveraging its engineering biology and biotechnology expertise to supply/create ingredients to enhance these products.
Ardra’s project focuses on developing a very well understood ingredient called heme, found in animal blood, which alone provides a core element of the taste of meat. Ardra has demonstrated production of animal-free heme by precision fermentation and has active requests for larger sample amounts from several major flavour companies. Their AcCELLerate-ON project objective is to reach pilot-scale for heme production, validation of their key ingredients by these potential customers, and to establish a clear path to market.