Industry giants strengthen cooperation with biotechnology companies
Fenmeiyi has seen the application prospect of synthetic biology in the field of flavor and fragrance for a long time. More than 10 years ago, the price was too high, but technological progress made Fenmeiyi see the feasibility. In 2010, Fenmeiyi cooperated with the renewable chemicals company Amyris to develop three kinds of fragrance ingredients. Sarah Reisinger, senior vice president in charge of research business, pointed out that the reason why Finmei insisted on the layout of biotechnology was that the enzyme was surprisingly efficient when producing specific products, and that it was able to use plant based carbon and sustainable processes to produce products that were difficult to obtain from nature.
In 2016, Japan's Kaosha Spice acquired the American company Centre Innovative Technology. It can be seen from its official website that the current direction of the company is also to promote the use of cutting-edge biotechnology and renewable raw materials.
In 2019, BASF acquired Isobionics, a Dutch biotechnology company, and added 10 kinds of fermentation technology flavor products such as Valencia citroene and pomelone; In the same year, a cooperation agreement was signed with Conagen, a biotechnology company, to produce naturally fermented vanillin.
In 2021, DSM acquired the essence and perfume business of American biotechnology company Amyris. In August of the same year, Chihuaton, an international flavor and fragrance giant, announced its cooperation with Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA. US), a leading synthetic biology company.
In the domestic flavor industry, Huaye flavor is mainly synthetic flavor, and Kehong Bio's main product is natural flavor. It is noteworthy that since its establishment, Kehong Biology has gradually transformed from traditional chemical synthesis technology to modern biological fermentation technology through cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhejiang University, so as to meet people's "natural and safe" consumption requirements for food, medicine, cosmetics and other industries. Its products produced through synthetic biology technology have huge market prospects.
In this regard, the insiders believe that the application of biotechnology in the flavor and fragrance industry has long appeared, but the cost is too high for consumers to bear. With the progress of technology, the feasibility has become increasingly high. "More and more biotechnology flavors and fragrances are put into production, and once the fermentation cost is broken through, explosive growth will occur." Many insiders said.
Work together to make the industry more stable, efficient and sustainable
Sarah Reisinger, senior vice president of Finmeiyi Research and Operation, once said that the reason for valuing biotechnology is that, first, it is efficient. P450 enzyme can efficiently achieve site-specific oxidation; Second, it can continuously produce natural raw materials that are difficult to obtain.
It is understood that at present, the main way to produce flavor and fragrance is natural extraction of spice plants or chemical synthesis of chemical products. However, the spice plants are easily affected by the natural climate, and the annual output is uneven, resulting in unstable supply and price of raw materials. The price of raw materials for chemical products is directly affected by the fluctuation of international oil prices. In recent years, the oil price fluctuates frequently, causing great difficulties for the flavor and fragrance manufacturers.
In addition, with the improvement of the quality of life, people's consumption concept is also changing, and they pay more and more attention to their own health and environmental protection. As the concept of nature includes multiple meanings such as health and safety, green and sustainable development, the essence and fragrance from natural sources have been sought after by consumers in recent years. In addition, the use of synthetic biological technology and microbial fermentation has gradually become another important production technology of flavors and fragrances besides natural extraction and chemical synthesis.
In fact, synthetic biotechnology has brought many benefits to the industry. For example, reproduction of some raw materials that cannot be naturally extracted, reproduction of a transient and non-material smell, cost reduction, etc.
The content of many flavor molecules in plants is extremely low, which needs to be cultivated, harvested and re extracted in large tracts of farmland. Such a production mode covers a large area, has complex extraction process and is easily affected by natural weather. For example, in recent years, due to citrus yellow dragon disease and climate change, temperature anomalies and extreme weather have led to a sharp decline in the production of grapes and other oranges. According to the data of the United States Department of Agriculture, Florida harvested 59 million cases of grapefruit from 1996 to 1997, but only 4.6 million cases in the first quarter of 2021. At the same time, the market demand for natural citrus flavor additives is soaring.
By studying the natural biochemical reaction pathway, we can determine the genetic code of the enzyme needed in the pathway, integrate it into specific microbial chassis cells, and use microorganisms to convert sugar into target molecules through fermentation tank production, so that we can produce the required flavor and essence molecules. The scale of fermentation tank can be expanded from hundreds of liters to thousands of tons, which will save a lot of agricultural land, simplify the production process, and be able to stably produce in batches according to the order quantity, which is more effective and more sustainable.
Another advantage of microbial fermentation is that it is biological in nature, mimicking the biochemical process in the real natural environment. In most cases, the enzymes used in fermentation are identical with natural enzymes, which can produce many molecules that cannot be synthesized by chemical engineering.
The content of plant derived flavors and fragrances is extremely complex, such as vanilla essence. The main flavor component is vanillin. Other chemicals in vanilla also provide other complex flavors, including smoke, spice, sulfur, sweetness and cream. However, not every molecule is important to flavor and function. Some molecules have no effect, or even have a negative impact. For example, stevioside extracted from stevia leaves is rich in RebA, which brings a bitter taste to stevioside. Through synthetic biology, rebA can be transformed into a more delicious sweetener rebM.
The large carbon footprint brought by chemical synthesis is another reason to promote biosynthesis. Synthetic biotechnology can reduce the carbon footprint in the production process by using renewable carbon, improving the carbon efficiency in synthesis, maximizing biodegradable carbon, and increasing the odor impact of each carbon. Synthetic biology experts also believe that synthetic biology can provide more than 100% of the existing market products. "In addition to making all the wonderful molecules that exist in nature, you can also make new molecules, which do not exist yet. That is more than 100% of the source."
Ginkgo Bioworks, which established a new partnership with Chiwharton in 2021, allows customers to program cells as easily as programming computers by building a platform. At present, Ginkgo has realized commercial production of three kinds of spice molecules. Among them, Robertset, a French flavor and additive manufacturer, is using two molecules produced by yeast designed by Ginkgo: one with strong peach smell γ- Decalactone; The other is transparent liquid Masoyalactone. The price of the latter used as flavoring agent can reach 1200 dollars/kg, and the annual output value of this product can reach millions of dollars through fermentation process.
These enterprises firmly believe that, on the premise that customers want to adhere to the natural source, biotechnology flavors and fragrances can effectively avoid supply chain problems such as abnormal weather, seasonal factors, geopolitical instability, uneven quality, heavy metal and pesticide residues, and the rise in the price of chemical raw materials.
What will the future flavor and fragrance industry look like? "In the next ten years, biotechnology products will occupy 30% of the fragrance and fragrance market." Katy Oglesby, the fragrance and flavor director of Blue California, said at the SynBioBeta Food and Agriculture Conference in 2021.
Source: China Food News
