Biotechnology company PoLoPo announced it is commercializing its molecular farming process that uses potatoes to create functional, plant-based protein powder.
The company said the first protein it has recreated is ovalbumin, the main protein found in egg white. According to PoLoPo's website, its vegan egg protein powder is genetically identical and nutritionally equivalent to chicken egg white protein and can be integrated into food processing lines or formulations.
PoLoPo stated its plan is to provide a cost-effective alternative to increasing egg prices, supply chain instability and avian influenza outbreaks.
“To move from the lab to the greenhouse and now to field-growing has been exhilarating and is an enormous step for us and the field of molecular farming,” stated PoLoPo CEO Maya Sapir-Mir. “The increased yield of these field trials will be directed to commercial samples for our partners to immediately begin working with the product in food applications.”
PoLoPo’s current potato crop, located in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, is expected to yield approximately three tons of potatoes after harvesting in Spring 2025. The company has submitted for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulatory approval to give U.S. growers access to PoLoPo’s potato plants.
The company said it is testing a range of new genotypes to identify other types of protein it could potentially recreate.
How it works
PoLoPo uses a metabolic engineering technique to turn potato plants into micro-biofactories that can produce biological products, such as protein, using microorganisms or cell cultures.
To do so, a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence is inserted into each a starter potato plant, which provides the instructions for producing the egg protein. Those potatoes are then planted. When the potato plants reach a certain size, they are harvested and their proteins are extracted and dried into a functional protein powder.
While the potatoes are produced using genetically modified organisms (GMO), PoLoPo said GMOs are not found in the final product.
