Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Other from global

Precision-fermented food proteins (industrial category)

Precision fermentation is an industrial process, not a traditional ferment. A microbe given a gene for one animal protein, such as the milk protein β-lactoglobulin or egg-white ovalbumin, is grown in a steel fermenter and secretes that protein into the broth. The protein is then separated from the cells, purified, concentrated and spray-dried, so the food is one purified protein, not the microbe.

Fully documentedOther3 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedIndustrial process; the medium and fermentation conditions are not published in the notices read. The numbers below are a regulatory product specification and one laboratory value quoted in a review.
Genetically engineered production strainFor example Trichoderma reesei QM6a-PD1, carrying a gene for cow β-lactoglobulin[fda-grn863-letter]
Fermentation medium, antifoam, filtration aids and pH adjustersFood-grade raw materials and processing aids[fda-grn863]
StarterA lyophilized stock culture vial of the production strain starts a seed fermenter for each batch (T. reesei, GRN 863).

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countPichia pastorisAspergillus oryzaeKluyveromyces lactisSaccharomyces cerevisiae

What changes: A vial of the engineered fungus starts a small seed fermenter

Step 1 of 5
Start a seed fermenter from a stock culture
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Pichia pastoris
Aspergillus oryzae
Kluyveromyces lactis
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Output: seed culture.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

a new freeze-dried stock vial of the production strain starts each batch

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Precision fermentation is an industrial process, not a traditional ferment. A microbe given a gene for one animal protein, such as the milk protein β-lactoglobulin or egg-white ovalbumin, is grown in a steel fermenter and secretes that protein into the broth. The protein is then separated from the cells, purified, concentrated and spray-dried, so the food is one purified protein, not the microbe. Made in 5 steps over 3 days. The longest step, grow the strain in the main fermenter, takes at least 3 days (Beck F 2025). Trichoderma reesei and Komagataella phaffii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 daysReported[beck2025]Grow the strain in the main fermenter
AciditypH 6–8Set[fda-grn863]Spray-dry to a powder

What makes this one different

Unlike mycoprotein or Solein, where the whole microbe is eaten, the microbe here is only a factory; it is removed and only one purified protein is kept.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fermentation-produced chymosinThe first genetically engineered food ingredient with GRAS status, in 1990 (Wikipedia).
  • Soy leghemoglobinPichia pastoris host. GRN 540 ceased in 2015; GRN 737 received "no questions" on 23 Jul 2018; a newer K. phaffii notice (GRN 1202) closed on 7 Mar 2025 [fda-grn].
  • β-lactoglobulinTrichoderma reesei host, GRN 863, no questions 25 Mar 2020; later K. phaffii (GRN 1056, 15 Feb 2023; GRN 1200, 28 Feb 2025), A. oryzae (GRN 1145, 18 Dec 2023; GRN 1241, 16 Sep 2025) and K. lactis (GRN 1247, 19 Sep 2025) notices [fda-grn].
  • Egg-white proteinsK. phaffii soluble egg-white protein, GRN 967 (9 Sep 2021) and GRN 1104 (17 Oct 2023); ovalbumin from T. reesei, GRN 1249 (16 Sep 2025) [fda-grn].
  • CaseinsNo FDA "no questions" letter yet: a β-casein notice from E. coli (GRN 1228) ceased in 2025; αS1-casein (GRN 1312) and β-casein (GRN 1348) were pending in October 2026 [fda-grn].
  • Sweet proteins and lactoferrinBrazzein (K. phaffii, A. oryzae, maize host) and bovine lactoferrin (K. phaffii) received "no questions" letters from 2024 to 2026 [fda-grn].

Safety

A milk protein made by fermentation is still a milk allergen. The FDA notes that β-lactoglobulin from fermentation must be labelled as containing protein derived from milk.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The term precision fermentation is relatively new, although the underlying methods date from the 1980s and chymosin made by engineered microbes was the first genetically engineered food product to get GRAS status, in 1990 [s1]. The FDA answered "no questions" on 25 Mar 2020 to the notice for β-lactoglobulin from Trichoderma reesei [fda-grn863-letter]. Myoglobin from P. pastoris (GRN 1001) received "no questions" on 3 Dec 2021 [fda-grn].

  1. [fda-grn863] US FDA, GRAS Notice GRN 000863, Non-animal whey protein from fermentation by Trichoderma reesei (Perfect Day, Inc.), releasable notice with amendmentsgov
  2. [fda-grn863-letter] US FDA, response letter to GRAS Notice GRN 000863 (β-lactoglobulin produced by Trichoderma reesei), "no questions", 25 Mar 2020gov
  3. [fda-grn] US FDA GRAS Notice Inventory (read 2026-10-16 and 2026-10)gov
  4. [beck2025] Beck F., Noll P., Schweiggert-Weisz U., Henkel M. 2025, Scientific and technological challenges of recombinant egg protein production, BMC Biotechnology 25:65paper
  5. [s1] Wikipedia, Precision fermentationwiki