Yali Bio Comes Out of Stealth Mode to Discuss Future Synthetic Fat Products

REPUBLISHED_FROM_THE SPOON_DECEMBER_1_2022

By Ashlen Wilder / November 1, 2021

While alternative protein products are generally considered more environmentally friendly than animal-based products, there are a few ingredients in this plant-based space that raise concerns. Tropical oils like coconut and palm oil, which are commonly used as the fat alternatives to animal-based products, have become notorious for being a cause of deforestation and habitat destruction in Asia.

San Francisco-based start-up Yali Bio aims to address the environmental concerns of both animal products and tropical oils by producing a synthetic, plant-based fat product. Apart of the Illumina Accelerator program (which runs from September 2021-March 2022), Yali Bio combines synthetic biology and genomics to develop its products.

This week, I spoke to Yulin Lu, one of the co-founders of Yali Bio, who said, “We think plant-based meat and dairy will just never be great without tailored fats.” What Lu means by this is that companies too often rely on generic fats like coconut, palm, or canola to craft alternative dairy, cheese, and meat products, when in reality, all of these products need fats tailored for each purpose to be great.

So what is Yali Bio’s secret ingredient for its synthetic fat? Yeast. This ingredient is fed sugar in bioreactors, where a lipid biosynthesis mechanism occurs within the cells. Yali Bio is an early-stage company, so it is unable to disclose more information about its technology and process.

Lu has previously worked for big players in the alternative protein space, like Eat Just and Impossible. One thing he realized with Impossible and Beyond’s meat analogs is that as soon as you cook them, the fat (which is mostly coconut oil) seeps out of the product and into the pan. When you bite into one of these burgers, you’ll still get some of the fat, but a lot has already melted out, resulting in a drier product.

A few other companies are focused on making better and more tailored fats in the alternative protein space. In September, MeaTech 3D announced that it has filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its new stem cell manipulation technology used to create fat cells. Melt&Marble, previously known as Biopetrolia, announced in August that it has raised $$876,000 USD to continue to develop its fermentation-based fats for plant-based foods. Earlier this year, Mosa Meat unveiled that it was able to reduce the cost of developing its fat media by 66 times.

Many of these companies making alternative fats are going the cultivated cell route, which means they will have to go through the regulatory approval process. Yali Bio is using plant-based ingredients, therefore eliminating the need for government regulatory approval. This means we may be seeing Yali Bio’s synthetic fats in alternative protein products before companies like MeaTeach and Mosa Meat.