Alongside the industry heavyweights famed for pioneering the plant-based category, smaller businesses with big ambitions are also championing the future of sustainable, animal-free food. In this month’s Start-up spotlight, we speak to TurtleTree, a company aiming to revolutionise the dairy industry through its animal-free lactoferrin protein. Fengru Lin, TurtleTree’s CEO, explains how her journey into sustainable dairy production ignited a fervent desire for change.
Could you explain TurtleTree’s mission and what led to its establishment?
The current state of global food production is deeply flawed, with a heavy reliance on factory farming, leading to issues like waste, animal cruelty and excessive hormone and antibiotics use. This intensive system compromises the quality and nutritional content of foods.
With population growth exploding in the next decade, global agricultural output must increase 70-110% by 2050 to feed global demand. Traditional food production practices must make way for more sustainable systems to meet this demand without harming public and planetary health.
TurtleTree was founded in 2019 with one bold vision: to create a new generation of sustainable nutrition that’s better for the planet, animals and people. We’re leaning into biotechnology to disrupt the existing system and revolutionise how the world eats.
Through the use of precision fermentation and cell-based technologies, we’re eliminating the need for farm animals and addressing the associated unsustainable land and water use, all while creating a more consistent, scalable and resilient food system.
To date, we have secured over $40 million in funding, backed by investors such as Verso Capital, KBW Ventures and Green Monday Ventures, and won global competitions like The Liveability Challenge and The Entrepreneurship World Cup for our innovative disruption of the dairy industry.
What are the key challenges involved in developing a plant-based milk product that can match, or improve, the nutritional profile of conventional milk?
Milk is a complex and nutrient-dense elixir composed of more than 2,000 ingredients, including approximately 200 proteins. One of the most powerful bioactive proteins is lactoferrin, which is great for immunity, iron regulation and digestive health.
Plant-based milks do not naturally contain bioactive proteins like lactoferrin and are comparatively lacking in the nutritional benefits of conventional dairy products. Fortifying plant-based milks with lactoferrin, TurtleTree can help bridge the gap between these products and their animal-derived counterparts.
What are the key ingredients used in the precision fermentation process to develop your animal-free lactoferrin?
Precision fermentation is a state-of-the-art process that uses microbial hosts for the mass production of ingredients. Compared to traditional methods, precision fermentation offers far greater efficiency and volume, enabling viable production at commercial scale.
We are able to select microbial hosts, like yeast or fungi, and engineer the target DNA into the microbes. The microbes are then grown in a bioreactor and they will secrete the target protein lactoferrin. Lastly, there is a downstream purification process to purify the lactoferrin.
We follow four steps to produce LF+. First, we identify the genetic sequence of lactoferrin. We insert the sequence into microbes, which are used as little factories to produce lactoferrin. The microbes are then placed in a bioreactor, where they are nourished with nutrients and undergo a process of fermentation after which they start producing lactoferrin. Finally, the lactoferrin is collected, purified and used to fortify our favourite foods.
Why did you choose to focus on lactoferrin as an ingredient?
Our product, LF+, is a high-value bioactive milk protein (lactoferrin) and one of the most powerful parts of cow’s milk that has great functional benefits for immunity, iron regulation and digestive health. While lactoferrin is already used in supplements and infant formulas today, supply scarcity means that demand cannot be met for other fertile segments like sports nutrition, where the protein’s iron-regulating benefits can improve physical performance, aiding endurance, fatigue resistance, muscle strength and energetic efficiency.
Accessing lactoferrin directly through whole cow’s milk can be a challenge, with pasteurisation removing up to 50% of the naturally occurring protein. Furthermore, for conscious consumers who make the switch to plant-based milk, where lactoferrin is not inherently present, maintaining intake of this important nutrient can be a struggle.
Do you plan to branch out into developing other proteins in the near future?
Lactoferrin is the first building block, and TurtleTree will continue to build out its pipeline of high-value ingredients, creating them at scale and unlocking access for many more people. Through this transformative journey, we are working to reshape the way people nourish themselves while prioritising the health of our planet, animals and communities worldwide.
How do you expect the plant-based milk market to evolve over the coming years?
With health an important driver of consumer consumption, and advancements in this area already supporting plant-based category growth, we anticipate that plant-based milk companies will continue to focus on nutritional fortification to bridge the gap between animal-based products. The fortification of plant-based products could also help plant-based food companies enter the $36 billion US functional food market, which is predicted to be worth $532.98 billion globally by 2030.
What has been the company’s biggest achievement to date?
In 2023, we debuted the world’s first precision fermentation-produced lactoferrin, LF+. This year, the TurtleTree team has achieved key production milestones and is now ready to commercialise its LF+ in Q4 2023, expanding the possibilities for nutrition supplementation in sports and elderly nutrition as well as the plant-based milk market.
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