First Chicken-Free Egg White Now Available In U.S.

One of the first products made using a novel animal-free egg white is now available in the US. The unique macarons are the first to be made with an egg white protein that comes from engineered yeast, designed to be indistinguishable from what is found in chicken eggs, Rich Haridy reported for New Atlas.

Photo Insert: Arturo Elizondo, CEO and founder of The EVERY Company in EVERY's corporate kitchen, South San Francisco, California

The Every Company, founded in 2014 under the name Clara Foods, is one of several food firms working to create real animal-free proteins using a method called precision fermentation.

The idea behind the process is to break down certain animal products, such as milk and eggs, to their molecular components and then use microorganisms to produce those components.

Earlier this year the first cow-free dairy milk using this method hit supermarket shelves in the US. That product was created using whey proteins from engineered fungus, while other companies are working on similar dairy products using engineered yeast to produce the desired milk proteins.

The Every Company has spent the last few years focusing on using the same technique to produce chicken-free egg whites, working with engineered yeast to produce proteins found in egg whites.

The company has not disclosed the specific combination of proteins used to create its final egg white product, however, it is likely ovalbumin – the primary protein component in egg whites – plays a strong role in the recipe.

The company is not the first to explore precision fermentation of egg white proteins. Earlier this year, a team of researchers from the University of Finland revealed the successful production of ovalbumin from engineered fungus.

The researchers estimated manufacturing egg proteins this way could cut greenhouse gas emissions by half compared to the current environmental impact of chicken farming.

Arturo Elizondo, CEO of Every Company, said the new egg white product functions exactly like a chicken-derived egg white. It whips, aerates, and bakes in ways identical to traditional egg whites, and the company has teamed up with San Francisco-based bakery Chantal Guillon to launch the product in a line of iconic French macarons.

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