Microfungi are to transform biological waste into valuable food ingredients. That is the goal of a new research project that will contribute to reducing climate emissions from animal food production and securing food for the world's growing population.

By replacing animal food proteins from, for example, beef and milk with proteins produced by microbes, the climate impact of global food production can be reduced by 70-90 percent. This also reduces the need for land to produce animal feed, which currently accounts for 80 percent of Denmark's total agricultural area.

This is one of the potentials of the new research project, UPCYFUN, in which Innovation Fund Denmark is investing almost 22 million kroner, and which is led by the company ProteinFrontiers and involves universities, GTS, agriculture, the biotechnology industry and technology companies.

The project addresses both the Tripartite Agreement's goal of producing Danish food on less agricultural land with a smaller climate and environmental footprint and the global challenge of ensuring sufficient protein for the world's population, which will grow to 10 billion by 2050 and will require a 30-60 percent increase in global food production.

- It is both about global food security and about securing Denmark's strong position as an exporter of food. Denmark is lagging behind in this development and it is therefore gratifying that we have now started the development so that the technology and capacity are ready when microbial-based food production hits the mass market within 5-10 years, says Project Leader Niels Kristian Sørensen from ProteinFrontiers.

Will give Denmark a leading role in the global race

The UPCYFUN project is centered on the processing of biostreams into production media, i.e. food for the microbes, and the development of microbial fungal strains that can effectively utilize these media. By utilizing technology and knowledge from Denmark's strong position in biotech and pharma, UPCYFUN will create a new fermentation industry for food based on sustainable production media. This requires new collaborations across existing sectors and the creation of a completely new food value chain. A collaboration that the partnership in the project has made possible.

- Protein production by fermentation in no way means that agriculture should be shut down. On the contrary, agriculture plays a key role as a supplier of raw materials for this new industry, and in the future perhaps also as producers of food proteins by fermentation as a counterpart to the cooperative dairies that successfully transformed Danish agriculture over 100 years ago, says Niels Kristian Sørensen.

- The technology is well-known from the enzyme and pharmaceutical industries, but it must be developed and adapted for the production of proteins for human nutrition – that is, food. The price must be competitive with traditional foods and so low that everyone can afford a healthy and protein-rich diet. There is a global race underway in which Denmark has every opportunity to become a leader, he points out.

UPCYFUN has the following specific project goals:

• Development of production media based on bio-streams from agriculture, food and biotechnology industries.
• Screening and optimization of microbial fungal strains to exploit complex biostreams and produce milk proteins.
• Development of a platform that can be used to find the best combination of biostreams and microbial fungal strains using data analysis, including the use of artificial intelligence.
• Establishing a food-approved protein production based on biostreams via precision fermentation.

Over the past three years, the company ProteinFrontiers has created a foundation for UPCYFUN through both technological development and the creation of a network around fermentation-produced food proteins. On this basis, it has succeeded in assembling a consortium that together forms a unique team in terms of both research, development and business development.

Facts

• Innovation Fund's investment: DKK 21,704,807 million.
• Total budget: DKK 29,522,519 million.
• Duration: 4 years
• Official title: UPCYFUN

Partners in the project:

Protein Frontiers is a young company, but the owners all have decades of experience in agriculture and food. They are experts in biotechnology, including the construction of microbial cell factories and fermentation. In addition, they have extensive experience in innovation and strategic business development. The core competence is to process biostreams into cheap production media, match them with cell factories and thereby create efficient and competitive production of food proteins.

The Technical University of Denmark, Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine are experts in microbial fungal genetics, microbial cell factories, fermentation and robotic laboratory workflow automation. They have developed an advanced robotic screening platform that can find the most suitable microbes for specific production purposes among thousands of strains in DTU's large collection of microbial fungal strains.

Aalborg University, Department of Chemistry and Life Sciences has expertise in biorefining and microbial fungal technology including the development of cell factories to produce specific molecules such as proteins. AAU uses state-of-the-art molecular analytical methods (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and genetic methods such as Crispr, which are translated into products and industrial processes.

Vestjyllands Andel is Denmark's 3rd largest cooperative agricultural products company with a group turnover of 4.6 billion DKK in the most recent accounting period. With a focus on practical innovation, Vestjyllands Andel develops and delivers quality feed solutions for conventional, organic and non-GM, etc. At the same time, the agricultural products company invests and engages in the green transition - with due consideration for the climate, water environment, fossil fuel reduction and Danish agriculture. Vestjyllands Andel has 4,094 members as of 31/12-2024 and employs 292 employees.

Lyras has developed “raslysation”, a technology based on UV light that gently and effectively kills unwanted microorganisms in turbid liquids, as a climate-friendly alternative to traditional and more energy-intensive methods. They produce raslysation equipment for a number of industries, including the food and biotech industries. Sterilization of fermentation media is important to prevent unwanted microbes from growing and ruining the fermentation.

The Danish Technological Institute bridges the gap between laboratory development and industrial production. They have extensive expertise and facilities to develop and scale up processes within biorefining, fermentation and food in their newly established and large-scale “Biosolutions Technology Center”. With their extensive knowledge, they can validate the processes for converting biostreams into valuable food ingredients and document sustainability.

HNH Consult is a sole proprietorship where the owner is a technically skilled inventor. After a career at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland, the owner has developed and manufactured laboratory and small-scale production equipment for industries within food, biotechnology, pharma and chemistry for several decades. HNH Consult will help establish sensors and analysis equipment that are the basis for data-driven innovation.

Pexinno is a sole proprietorship where the owner has decades of experience within microbiology, protein chemistry and fermentation in the biotechnology industry. In addition, the owner has worked for many years to establish data science and has developed a concept for "The Digital Laboratory" where data created in the physical world is collected and analyzed, among other things, using artificial intelligence. This creates knowledge and insights that are the core of data-driven innovation.