Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
UPSIDE Foods Inc has just received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for the marketing of lab-grown meat. In a nutshell, this means the availability of real chicken (and in the future, beef, porc, or duck), grown from animal cells in a laboratory, without hurting, force-feeding, or slaughtering animals.
The UPSIDE Foods Inc website makes it all sound very easy. Primary cells from a chicken, or fertilized egg, are sampled. Ideal cells for establishing a commercial cell line are selected. The cells are nourished with a proprietary cell-culture medium. Then, the cells are cultivated, in a cultivator, at the right temperature and oxygen levels. About three weeks later, the cultivated tissue is harvested from the cultivator, and any leftover cell medium is removed. Currently, the resulting tissue is chicken muscle. In the future, the harvested tissue might be beef, duck, or porc, each product ready to be “inspected, prepared, packed, served, and enjoyed”.
Indeed, the fabrication process even appears easier than the problem of scaling production for mass consumption. At the end of the day, many people, not necessarily vegetarians, are eagerly waiting for 100% real meat that is also 100% cruelty-free (i.e.; does not involve killing any animals).
UPSIDE Foods Inc meat is a patented invention. At least three patent applications recite the UPSIDE Foods Inc cultivated meat invention, each patent awarded to groups of scientists at UPSIDE Foods Inc:
October 1st is World Vegetarian Day, celebrating plant-based diets, fashion, and lifestyles.In 2021, the vegetarian landscape is bountiful as ever. Plant-based products sold in supermarkets, co-ops, and even at major fast-food chains, such as Burger King, are now clearly rivaling animal products in taste, nutrition, and health. In turn, such products are making it easier for many prospective vegetarians to finally transition “painlessly” to a plant-based diet.
Some of the most significant reasons for renewed interest in plant-based lifestyles, in particular the development of new food technologies at the service of vegetarian diets, include:
- core ethical issues of long-overdue kindness to animals (PETA)
- critical awareness of the unsustainable economy of animal husbandry, where 70 billion animals are bred and fed, under cruel conditions, to feed, 7 billion people worldwide (Gandhi & Pandya, 2017) and
- the threat, and looming disasters of climate change, considering that animal agriculture is responsible for an estimated 14.5% of greenhouse gases (Staff, The Human League).
Below, a sample list of some of the most popular brands of plant-based substitute meat, sausages, chicken, burgers, fish, eggs, cheese, and mouth-watering ice cream, plus more.
Staff (March 4, 2021) These are some of the most popular vegan cheese brands and where to find them near you. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) https://www.peta.org/living/food/top-4-vegan-cheeses
If non-dairy
ice cream is nothing new, then what about recombinant dairy
ice cream?
Indeed, for various reasons, plants
or nuts (e.g., soy, almond and coconut) are widely used substitutes for
mammal-produced milk. Plant- or nut-based dairy substitutes are used for reasons that include allergies, the
risk of pathogen-contaminated milk, ethical considerations for the prevention of
animal cruelty, and environmental concerns. Environmental concerns such as, for example, the contribution of bovine methane emissions to global greenhouse gasses, and nitrate
contamination of groundwater, due to dairy factory effluents. Thus, plant or
nut-based dairy substitutes potentially resolve many issues. However, plant or nut-based dairy substitutes, also fail to compare with the taste of mammal-produced dairy. Additionally, plant or
nut-based milk substitutes fail to perform in quite the same way as mammal milk, when it
comes to making cream, cheese, yogurt, or butter, for example.
In comes a recombinant dairy composition, using
a recombinant milk protein, whose amino acid sequence is at least 98% identical
to the amino acid sequence of a mammal milk protein, able to resolve the
problematic situation of flavor and performance. A recombinant dairy substitute that replicates the flavor of mammal-produced dairy, minimizes the risks of
foodborne pathogens, eliminates the environmental impact of dairy-factory
production and associated issues of cruelty to animals, while removing risks of
allergy, and providing a comparable nutritional profile. A substitute milk protein composition that might also
perform just like mammal milk in the production of varying dairy products, such as
sauces, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter etc…
A recombinant dairy substitute composition, masterminded by
researchers at Perfect Day Inc., a food technology company, located in Berkeley,
California. A company with a business plan for partnering
with dairy manufacturers, willing to use the Perfect Day Inc., recombinant milk protein for
the production of dairy products. For example, you might currently get one first free pint of animal-free Brave Robot ice cream, at various
supermarket locations and stores. Perfect Day Inc., also currently partners
with Nick’s vegan ice cream, and Graeters Perfect Indulgence animal-free and
lactose–free ice cream. In the future, you might also find a more diversified shelf
of cow-milk-free (or goat-milk-free) dairy products, that includes the likes of recombinant
dairy camembert, brie and chèvre cheeses,
among many more favorites.
Specifically, the patent claims a
substitute ice cream composition comprising a recombinant β-lactoglobulin protein and ash, with an amino-acid sequence, preferably 98% identical to the amino acid sequence
of the mammal β-lactoglobulin protein, and no other milk proteins. Similarly, the patent
also claims a substitute milk composition, a substitute cream composition, a substitute
yogurt composition, a substitute cheese composition, a substitute frozen custard composition,
a substitute cream cheese composition, a substitute buttermilk composition, a substitute butter composition, a substitute food powder composition, each comprising a recombinant β-lactoglobulinprotein and ash, with an amino-acid sequence preferably 98% identical to
the amino acid sequence of the mammal β-lactoglobulin protein, and no other milk proteins.
The abstract of the invention is
included below, together with an image of BraveRobot Ice cream in three different flavors: Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk, A Lot of Chocolate, and Raspberry White Truffe, produced
using the Perfect Day Inc, recombinant milk protein.
Disclosed herein are methods and compositions including casein, and methods for making these compositions.[Abstract US2021037849A1]
So, how does recombinant dairy ice cream fare? Perfect Day Inc., was listed in Time Magazine's curated list Best inventions of the year 2020. Without compromising the taste of mammal-based milk ice cream and other dairy products, recombinant milk proteins seek to contribute to a long-awaited, kinder, and more gentle future, free of cruelty to animals. Such food technologies are also urgently responsive to the impending disasters of climate change.
Beyond Meat® is the new faux
meat kid on the NASDAQ stock exchange, trading with the ticker symbol BYND (NASDAQ). The
company launched its IPO on May 2, 2019 with an initial share price of $25. Today, BYND shares are trading at more than $200, up 700%! The US faux meat sector of the economy is up 11%. Faux meat is hot, hot, hot! (Reinicke, 2019)
If you are wondering about cooking your own faux meat, Beyond Meat® burger patties are available in the meat
sections of supermarkets and grocery stores across the country (Bernot, 2019). Beyond Meat®
has also partnered with Dunkin’® Donuts for rolling out faux breakfast sausage sandwiches, and is preparing to roll out faux bacon (Weiner-Bronne, 2019; O'Kane, 2019). Thus, you might already find
faux sausages called Beyond
Sausages®, in two flavors: Brat Original and Hot Italian, at your local
supermarkets, and faux bacon some
time in the very near future. In the interim, you will also find Beyond Beef®
Crumbles in the frozen section of supermarkets to make tacos and/or to add to
your favorite spaghetti sauce, as well as Beyond Beef® faux ground beef (e.g.; for making meatballs). Bonus mouthwatering recipes
are included at the Beyond Meat® website.
The ingredients and processes for producing Beyond Meat® faux beef, faux sausages and faux bacon
are disclosed most recently in the US patent application US20180310599A1, titled Meat-like
food products. The Beyond Meat® 2018 patent application is uncommon in that
the 52-page document contains 80 paragraphs (7 pages in two columns) of definitions
for the special meanings of the terms used to disclose the Beyond Meat® invention.Thus, you will find useful definitions, in the description section of this patent application, for terms that may appear
obscure, such as 80/20 and 90/10 beef or crosslinking; for unusual uses of terms
such as dough, flour and gel in reference
to meat; or for dispelling the potential legal ambiguity of such terms as about, or the indefiniteness of evaluation parameters such as doneness, chewiness, cohesiveness, juiciness, gumminess, springiness, taste, texture, sizzle sound,
and mouthfeel.
The Beyond Meat® invention arises with a
threefold concern for the health, environmental and ethical issues connected to
the consumption of animal meat, animal husbandry and cruelty. Accordingly, the
invention strives to remedy with a product that is healthier than animal meat,
as nutritious, and without the high greenhouse gas footprint, and insane cruelty
associated with animal meat production.
Compared to the prior art of
plant-based meat alternatives, the Beyond Meat® invention particularly
addresses the quality of the sensory experience of eating and cooking meat
(e.g.; sounds and aromas during the transition from raw to cooked faux meat,
the mouthfeel, taste, chewiness, juiciness and texture when ingested); the
nutritional and health values of plant-based meat (e.g.; without cholesterol or high saturated fat content, or the risks of allergy to gluten and soy); and the versatility
of use (e.g.; as faux patties for burgers, faux ground meat for meatloaf and sauces, crumbles for tacos, or stuffed
in a sausage skin for hotdogs).
Indeed,
the invention seeks to exceed customer satisfaction for animal meat, in an
effort to finally win animal meat consumers over to the vegetarian and/or vegan
camp. At the end of the day, this invention is a challenge to Go Beyond™ meat, to join a movement with
different beliefs and the higher purposes of mitigating climate change and
promoting health. The company states on its website:
“Go Beyond™ isn’t a polite invitation.
It’s a bold challenge to break barriers, defy convention, shatter expectations.”
The Youtube video below spotlights the Go
Beyond™ message and movement.
The Beyond Meat® patent application recites
in great detail all the various meat-like food products: the possible
ingredients and their percentages per weight that enter into various compositions
of Beyond Meat® faux meat (e.g.; meat-like proteins, lipids, carbohydrates,
edible fibre, and moisture) and their binding agents.
The patent application also recites the
various agent release systems, including emulsions, functioning to promote such aspects of the meat-like food products as
juiciness, binding of cooked or uncooked faux
meat, taste, sizzle sounds with the release of fats, and doneness triggered by
heat from the outside to the center, interacting with the red color of the faux meat.
In particular, for some embodiments of the
invention, the red color of the faux
meat is also described as potentially using various natural extracts and their
combinations, such as for example:
“beet extract and annatto, beet extract
and turmeric, beet extract and saffron, beet extract and purple carrot, beet
extract and grape seed extract, beet extract and tomato extract, beet extract
and lycopene, beet extract and beta carotene, beet extract and anthocyanin,
beet extract and anthocyanin and annatto, beet extract and annatto and
lycopene, beet extract and ascorbic acid , anthocyanin and annatto, beet extract
and annatto and ascorbic acid, beet extract and annatto and beta carotene,
beet extract and turmeric and ascorbic acid, and anthocyanin and lycopene and
annatto.” [0142]
The abstract of the Beyond Meat® faux meat
invention is included below, together with the patent Figure 1 image of a burger. An image of the marketed uncooked Beyond Meat® patty burgers is also included above.
Provided are food products that have
structures, textures, and other properties comparable to those of animal meat, and
that may therefore serve as substitutes for animal meat. Also provided are
processes for production of such ground meat - like food products. [Abstract US20180310599A1]
-----
In the twilight zone, it remains to be
seen whether the backlash for the Beyond Meat® invention might not come from those
vegetarians who are choking at how much Beyond Meat® looks, tastes and
smells like real animal meat, when such vegetarians have not joined forces with
nutritionists who point out that highly-processed
plant-based foodsuch as faux meat is different from plant-based
whole foods (Harris, 2019; Sweeney, 2019). However, such true vegetarians are probably still far
outnumbered by vegetarians still-craving-for-meat, and meat lovers who have no
plans yet for a plant-based diet, both of which might indeed be won, in ever greater numbers, as Beyond Meat® consumers.
Business Insider Reinicke, C. (July 23 2019) - Beyond Meat® extends
its post-IPO surge to 734%, breaking the $200-a-share threshold for the first
time (BYND)
The following is a hyperlinked sample list
of additional Impossible Foods Inc., patents and patent applications, reciting
various Impossible Foods Inc.; food technology inventions. A YouTube video interview is also included, of Dr.
Patrick Brown, the Founder and CEO of Impossible Foods Inc., at Hub Culture 2018, in Davos.
Some of the patents
listed are part of large patent families. For example, the US patent
application US2017290363A1, titled Methods and compositions for affecting the
flavor and aroma profile of consumables, reciting the engineered cooking aroma
invention of Impossible Food Inc.; faux meat, belongs to a 96-member patent
family. Thus, the below list is far from exhaustive.
AU2018200707A1 - Non-dairy cheese replica comprising a coacervate
AU2016231499B2 - Methods and compositions for consumables
AU2012281064A1 - Methods and compositions for consumables
AU2014205122B2- Non-dairy cheese replica comprising a coacervate
CA2897600A1 - Methods and compositions for affecting the
flavor and aroma profile of consumables
CA2897602A1 - Methods and compositions for
consumables
CA2897606A1 - Non-dairy cheese replica comprising a coacervate
EP2943072B1 - Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and
aroma profile of consumables
US9700067B2- Methods and compositions for affecting
the flavor and aroma profile of consumables
US9808029B2 - Methods and compositions for affecting
the flavor and aroma profile of consumables
US9833768B2 - Affinity reagents for protein purification
US9938327B2 - Expression constructs and methods of genetically
engineering methylotrophic yeast
US10039306B2 - Methods and compositions for consumables
US10087434B2 - Methods for extracting and purifying non-denatured
proteins
US2017290363A1 - Methods and compositions for affecting the
flavor and aroma profile of consumables
US2019008192A1- Methods and compositions for consumables
TR201802708T4- Tüketim ürünlerinin tat ve aroma profiline etki edilmesine yönelik yöntemler ve bileşimler [English title:Supplies methods and compositions for influencing
the flavor and aroma profiles.]
WO2013138793A2 - Affinity reagants for protein purification
WO2013010042A1 - Methods and compositions
for consumables
WO2015042405A1 - PH switchable reagents and methods for their use
Patented meat? Impossible! Yes, Impossible™ Meat! Indeed, even
Impossible™ Whoppers® at Burger King®!
Faux meat is in. A shortage even exists as Impossible™ Burgers are
now being rolled out nationally, tasting even better than the real deal per the
crowds (Vigdor, 2019).
Such news is heartening on several counts. First, it is a huge and long-awaited
breakthrough for animal rights activists and the animals whose heart-wrenching causes they
defend. Secondly, the popularity of faux burgers is precisely what the
founder of Impossible Foods, Inc., intended to do when he set out to design
plant-based meat that not only appealed to vegetarians, but to everyone, even
traditional meat-loving, burger, and hot dog-eating folks. Thirdly, it is
probably also a significant victory for Public Health officials who continue to recommend, in 2019,
using red meat sparingly (like butter) due to contents high in saturated fat
considered harmful for human health (Shao et. al., 2017; Skerrett & Willett, 2010). Fourthly, given the global warming costs
of agriculture’s high energy footprint, in part due to livestock production, top-of-the-charts
plant-based food is welcome (USEPA). Finally, considering all the unprecedented
possibilities of a company called Impossible
Foods Inc., selling trademarked Impossible™
Burgers to the nation’s biggest fast-food chains, this is a gambit on a grand
scale.
However, none of the above is really too surprising when you find
out that Impossible Foods Inc., was founded by Dr. Patrick Brown, an Emeritus
Stanford Professor and Pediatrician. Who would care more for everyone’s health
-- including non-human creatures, whether by design or as a natural corollary?
Impossible Foods, Inc., introduced the company’s Impossible™ Burger
2.0at CES 2019, where the burger won
both everyone’s tastebuds and the best technology innovation at the Convention.
Just in case you are wondering, Impossible™ Burger 1.0 was wheat protein-based,
whereas Impossible™ Burger 2.0 is now soy protein-based. CES 2019 is the
largest Consumer Electronics Show in the US, held at the beginning of each year in Las Vegas, CA.
Impossible™ Burgers 2.0 are purported to contain just 4 ingredients:
soy-protein, flavors, binders and fat. Impossible
Foods Inc., not only produces faux beef, it is also researching and developing
faux chicken, faux fish and faux porc. Beef just happens to be the most
strategic. Indeed, the company’s goal is
to completely replace the use of
animals as food technology by 2035.
Impossible Foods Inc.,plant-based meat is genetically engineered food technology
that is highly patented. The patented faux meat that really replicates the desirable properties of burgers such as the
texture, appearance and sensory aspects of cooking and eating, including
fibrousness, heterogeneity, beefy flavor, and red to brown transition with aromas during
cooking, is recited in the US patent US10172380B2,
titled Ground meat replicas. A US patent
with an uncommon, extraordinarily long and detailed, list of “References cited”
(INID Code 56). The list of cited references includes US patents, foreign
patents (CA, EP, DE, GB, JP, KR, RU, SU and WO) and other publications, consisting of a six-page, single-spaced, two-column list of journal articles,
reports, reviews, chapters, journal article translations, conference
presentations, videos and web pages, in scrambled order. Thus, the 34-page
patent document appears almost one-third references cited.
The Impossible Foods Inc., invention arises in a problematic background of
plant-based meat that neglects to capture the experience of eating and cooking
meat. In other words, a background where existing pre-cooked plant-based meat
omits to replicate such items as mouthfeel and the aromas of cooking meat. Indeed, it is assumed that these are the
reasons why regular meat lovers cannot be won over to the faux meat camp.
The patent recites several formulas for plant-based ground meat
compositions which have the desirable properties of mouthfeel and cooking
aromas of real meat, including the use of flavorings to give the plant-based
meat dough its beefy flavor, while also removing any plant flavor residues. The patent also describes the methods for
producing the ground meat replica compositions. For example, the patent describes in detail how to produce the cooked or raw cucumber or
Honeydew melon slurries, alternatively varying sorts of vegetable juice,
vegetable purée, vegetable extract, fruit juice, fruit purée or fruit extract,at a 0.0001% to 10% concentration of the meat replica, which will be added to a gelled matrix and used to increase meatiness and fattiness of the meat replicas, after being heated to a temperature ranging from 60◦C to 100◦C.
Among the composition ingredients, the patent discloses plant-based proteins selected according to the temperature at which they gel or
denature, precisely so that they can replicate the mouthfeel of meat, or the
particular firming that occurs during cooking, when water is released. One of the
compositions described comprises meat dough (45 to 60% by weight),
carbohydrate-based gel (10 to 25% by weight), fat (10 to 15% by weight), a
flavoring agent (3 to 7% by weight) and a binding agent (2 to 10% by weight).
Optionally the composition may contain a heme-containing protein (e.g.
leghemoglobin from soybean, pea or cowpea) as a coloring agent mimicking real meat “blood”.
In general, the method of making the ground beef replicas comprises
the steps of heating the meat dough, comprising a plant protein, and optionally an
edible fibrous component, flavorings and fat, to a temperature ranging from 150◦F to 250◦F, then combining the dough with a fat, and then with a
carbohydrate-based gel, an optional binding agent and iron salt or complex, comprising
the heme moiety, and flavors, each step comprising many variations in terms of
ingredients.
For example, the plant protein is recited as possibly including "wheat gluten, a
dehydrin protein, an albumen, a globulin or a zein, or mixtures thereof." The fibrous
component may include plant fibers from "carrot, bamboo, pea, potato, broccoli,
sweet potato, corn, whole grains, alfalfa, kale, celery, celery root, parsley,
cabbage, green beans, kidney beans, black beans, red beans, white beans, cauliflower,
nuts, apple skins, oats or psyllium or mixtures thereof." The fat can be
an "algal oil, a fungal oil, corn oil, olive oil, soy oil, peanut oil,
walnut oil, almond oil, sesame oil, cottonseed oil, rapeseed oil, canola
oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, palm oil, palm kernel
oil, coconut oil, babassu oil, shea butter [...]; or margarine or other hydrogenated
fats." The flavoring agentscan be selected from a group consisting of "a
vegetable extract, fruit extract, an acid, an antioxidant, a carotenoid, a
lactone, and combinations thereof."
Some of the ingredients recited are chemical compounds, no longer recognizable as food. For example, the lactones added at
concentrations of 10-3 to 10-11 of the food product for
the purposes of masking residue plant flavors, are recited as selected from a group consisting of:
Likewise for ingredients and processes used to replicate "real blood" and color transitions during cooking, recited for the iron complex, and the various heme-containing proteins (or polypeptides), and their possible recombinant production.
The formulations for ground meat replicas, recited in this patent, incorporate
other previously disclosed Impossible Foods Inc., faux animal products, such as cheese replicas,
recited in the patent application US20140127358, titledMethods and compositions for consumablesand the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) publication WO2014110540,titled Non-dairy cheese replica comprising a coacervate;
and various sorts of meat replicas, such as faux ground beef, faux ground chicken, faux ground turkey, faux ground lamb or faux ground pork, recited in the patent application US20140193547, titled Methods and compositions for consumables, and PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) publications WO2014110532, titledMethods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma profile of consumables and WO2014110539, titledMethods and compositions for consumables.
The abstract of this invention is included below, together with a Burger King Youtube® video, witnessing the patrons' disbelief.
This document relates to ground meat
replicas, and more particularly to plant - based products that mimic ground
meat, including the fibrousness, heterogeneity in texture, beefy flavor, and
red - to - brown color transition during cooking of ground meat. For example,
this document provides meat replicas that include proteins that are selected
based upon the temperature at which they gel and/or denature to mimic the
behavior and qualities of meat during cooking. [Abstract US10172380B2]
🍔
One question that arises, once you have won all the meat lovers into
the FDA-approved Impossible™faux meat camp, is whether vegetarians might follow suit. Not
all vegetarians, eschewing meat, seek plant-based imitations or faux meat (Bee, 2019). Vegetarian
cuisine, with the fairly recent participation of France’s most famous,
Michelin-starred chefs, has long embraced the plant-based world -- in its own right -- without needing to satisfy cravings for meat, stepping back to
imitate animal-based technologies (Labro, 2015, 2016; Branciard, 2016; Libération 2018). Why endorse
meat textures, flavors, and mouthfeel, when there is a satisfying world of tantalizing tastes, surprises and endless creativity in the immensely varied world of
vegetables? Why go back, and choose faux meat that tastes like real meat?
At the end of the day, however, the vegetarian segment of the
population is hardly at stake. Some vegetarians may increase newly engineered Impossible™faux
meat sales, but not all. What is more interesting is that vegetarians might
welcome a new powerful ally, addressing non-vegetarians and meat-yearning vegetarians.
An ally who seeks to radically change the playing field of food technologies,
by eliminating animal-based food technologies completely, offering instead faux meat, indistinguishable from real meat, even better than the real fare.
Shao, A. et. al (2017) Optimal nutrition and the ever-changing dietary
landscape: A conference report. European Journal of Nutrition. DOI: 10.1007/s00394-017-1460-9
Skerrett, P.J. & W.C. Willett (2010) - Essentials of healthy eating: A guide. National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine. Journal of Midwifery Women's Health DOI: 10.1016/j.jmwh.2010.06.019
