Company Develops Chicken-Free Egg White

Company Develops Chicken-Free Egg White Onego Bio aims to introduce chicken-free egg white protein powder by 2028. The company is constructing a plant in Wisconsin to produce Bioalbumen, the protein found in egg whites. “I want to make this very clear from the outset. We’re not trying to replace chickens,” stated Christopher Landowski, Onego Bio, in a recent interview. “They’re still going to be the main way that people get egg products. We’re just supplementing the (egg protein) supply to make sure it’s available consistently.” Landowski is a Wisconsin native who moved to Finland, where he worked on breakthroughs in fungal research. In 2016, he and others in the company adapted Trichoderma fungi to produce food ingredients such as egg and milk proteins. In 2022, he co-founded Onego Bio to focus on commercializing egg proteins through precision fermentation of Trichoderma. He explains that through fermentation, they can produce an egg white protein that tastes and handles like the real thing. Unlike chickens, the fungi never get sick or tired and never stop eating.  Trichoderma was discovered during WWII because it ate away at canvas uniforms and tents. In the fermentation process, the Trichoderma reesei fungus is fed corn sugar, water and specific minerals. It secretes ovalbumin. The company compares this process to yeast fermentation, which turns sugars into alcohol. The same fungi can be genetically modified to produce other proteins, such as milk, insulin and silk. Onego Bio highlights its potential to reduce current risks in the food industry, such as those associated with avian flu. The 2024 outbreak led to the culling of millions of hens and more than doubled egg prices. “These days, when there’s avian flu or something [else] happening to the chickens, there aren’t enough eggs available. So we’re trying to buffer the supply of the eggs needed for food manufacturing,” Landowski recently told WPR’s Wisconsin Today. Bioalbumen contains the equivalent of 277 egg whites in a 1-kg package. It’s the first non-animal egg protein with an amino acid sequence identical to that of chicken egg whites. Potential uses for the company’s product include baked goods, breakfast cereals and pasta, as well as beverages such as eggnog, ice cream and other desserts. The FDA recently approved Bioalbumen as a “Generally Recognized As Safe” food ingredient. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Onego Bio Inc., 9215 Brown Deer Rd., Suite C, San Diego, Calif. 92121 (www.onego.bio).

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