Silicon Valley Startup The EVERY Company Cracks World’s First Animal-Free Egg Protein

San Francisco, California-based ingredient company Clara Foods has rebranded as The EVERY Company and unveiled its latest product, an animal-free egg protein food producers can use to boost the nutritional value of their own products. Dubbed EVERY ClearEgg, the product is the first in what EVERY Company says will be “a portfolio of egg proteins” with different functionalities and uses.

Founded in 2014, the company develops its ingredients through precision fermentation, a method popularized by the likes of Impossible Foods and Perfect Day.

Eggs without chicken

EVERY Company claims that ClearEgg is “the world’s first animal-free, nature-equivalent egg protein.” Seven years in the making, it’s a tasteless, odorless, almost colorless, and “highly soluble” egg protein made via precision fermentation and meant to be added to food and beverage products to give them a nutritional boost. Its main purpose is to increase protein in a product, and to do so without the obvious aftertaste present with many alt-protein options available today.

In January 2020, EVERY Company co-founder Arturo Elizondo told Green Queen about their technology: “We 3D print the DNA, which we then add to the yeast. Essentially, we’re hacking the yeast. The yeast becomes a computer in the same way that computers read programs in terms of 0s and 1s, and then they churn out an output program for any application you want.”

A range of egg-pplications

In a news release, the company cited hot and cold beverages, acidic juices, energy drinks, and nutrition bars as just some of the potential products to which ClearEgg could be added. Speaking to FoodDive yesterday, Elizondo also listed plant-based milks, which tend to lack in proteins compared to animal-based ones, as another obvious category. 

“Now you can actually have plant-based milks that have more protein than cow milk without having to add all the corresponding sugar to mask that flavor, or all these gums to keep it soluble, because plant proteins are just notoriously insoluble,” he said.

The company has more animal-free egg proteins in the pipeline, though the eventual goal is to branch out from that particular food.

Ready to scale animal-free proteins

Earlier this year, it launched a pig-free version of pepsin, an enzyme ingredient used in a variety of food and pharmaceutical products. More recently, the company partnered with AB InBev’s venture arm ZX Ventures to ferment proteins such as ClearEgg at a larger scale. 

“More than one trillion eggs are consumed globally every year and corporate commitments for cage-free aren’t enough. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the world’s largest fermentation company,” Elizondo said at the time, adding that the partnership with ZX Ventures was “a major step towards realising our vision.” 

That vision is to help advance the world’s transition from animal-based proteins. For now, EVERY Company plans to do that by focusing on the egg. Companies like Eat Just, NextMeats, and FloatFoods have helped to make the idea of the alt-egg enticing among mainstream consumers. However, the focus is currently on mimicking the taste rather than replicating one or more of the the 22 functions of the egg, such as binding, aeration, or emulsification.

EVERY products will be sold globally by Ingredion, the ingredients giant that also distributes EVERY’s pig-free pepsin.

Meanwhile, EVERY’s first egg protein will be launching as a co-branded ingredient with BioBrew, the ZX Ventures-backed company with whom EVERY has partnered to scale its fermentation process.

The companies says they will launch in retail later this year. Further on, EVERY Company expects to offer a range of animal-free proteins in both foodservice and CPG settings.

Lead image courtesy of The EVERY Company.