2010: The year that food went single-celled
Solazyme, an algae biofuel company, has decided to venture into the food realm come 2010. And yes, that means that they will be using algae to create various “raw materials” like flour that can be used to cook, bake, etc.
Working out of her home kitchen, research flavor chemist Leslie Norris discovered Solazyme could substitute an algae-derived flour to make a product similar to pita bread. Now a whole wing of Solazyme’s headquarters is dedicated to a food laboratory, complete with a freeze-dryer, centrifuge homogenizer, oven, stove top and more.
Norris, cell culture and fermentation scientist Mary Poulhazan and the rest of Solazyme’s team created a honey mustard that is 14 percent algae by weight and contains 75 percent less fat than a typical honey mustard from a fast food chain. The company also found its algae could be used to make a milk substitute with nutritional benefits that rival soy and almond milk. And it’s made cookies that have 25 percent fewer calories and 75 percent less fat than a traditional recipe plus no cholesterol and one gram of fiber.
“(Algae flour) has allowed us to make cookies with no eggs and no butter and to do things we’ve never been able to do with food,” Norris said.
Solazyme’s vision is to manufacture raw material — like algae flour — and sell it to food manufacturers. More than a dozen companies are testing its food products or are considering doing so. The company said it has sold some of its food products to food manufacturers already in 2009 but none are yet commercially available. Dillon said 2010 will be the breakthrough year for its algae foods division.
This announcement has several benefits to the overall algae biofuel field. For example, if algae based foods take off in the short term, it could help absorb some of the high costs associated with producing algae fuel. This could prove to be essential since many believe that it will only be through the sale of algal co-product (like food) that algae biofuels will ever prove viable.
I will be watching this very closely. Be sure to check back in the next couple weeks since I will will try to get some more information on what all Solazyme is doing in the food realm.
