Cracking the Cultured Egg: Cell-Based Scrambled Eggs Will be Market-Ready by End of the Year

EAT

Mar 6

Fiction Foods' Performance Scramble is a nutrient-rich and cell-based formula that is optimized for human performance, to be consumed in place of a chicken egg

Food tech company Fiction Foods has announced its flagship product - a cell-based vegan egg alternative - will be market-ready by the end of the year. Performance Scramble, designed to enhance mental and physical performance, is more nutritious than chicken eggs. As well as removing the need to farm hens, the innovative product is expected to be produced at a fraction of the environmental cost.

“Leaving the Chicken Alone”

The plant-powered scramble is a new initiative by Brendan Brazier, the co-founder of plant-based sports nutrition brand Vega, which was acquired by WhiteWave Foods Company in 2015 for $550 million. Brazier also co-developed Beyond Meat's "Beast Burger", which launched as Beyond Meat's first burger in 2015.

"Creating a nutrient-dense, versatile liquid that can be used in place of a chicken egg has long been an objective of mine. We are working hard so that Performance Scramble will be used to bolster mental and physical performance far beyond that of a chicken egg's nutritional capability, while leaving the chicken alone,” said Brazier. “It's not a fake egg, but a whole new culinary experience, that is made from a signal-cell organism called euglena that contains animal-like and high-quality protein, but without the animal."

Nutrient-Dense

Fiction Foods - a portfolio company of investment platform CULT Food Science Corp - say the liquid-based egg can be used to replace “all typical uses of chicken eggs”, while offering a host of additional nutrition benefits. Performance Scramble has 15 percent more animal-quality protein than a conventional chicken egg, more DHA omega-3 than animal-based salmon, more zinc than oysters, more protein than yoghurt, and more antioxidants than blueberries, as well as MCT-oil to promote cognitive performance and beta glucan to help boost the immune system.

“CULT applauds the accelerated product development timeline out of the Fiction Foods camp,” said Lejjy Gafour, President of CULT. “Their inaugural product, the aptly-named Performance Scramble, has been designed to drive human potential while providing an offset for its environmental footprint. The Performance Scramble prototype is a testament to Brendan’s lifelong pursuit to improve both human health and the environment, evidenced by his thought leader status and successful exits in the food optimization space,” he said.

Brazier started Fiction Foods to further his mission of reducing the environmental strain of food production on the planet while bringing non-animal, nutrient rich food products to market.

“Why must food come at such a high environmental cost? Inefficiencies that have been allowed to exist in our food production system are clearly ripe for disruption. They are from an era decades old, that desperately needs rewriting," said Brazier.

Vegan Eggs

As plant-forward eating continues to grow in popularity for ethical, environmental, and health reasons, a growing number of companies are working to produce alternatives to chicken eggs. Last October, JUST Egg, which is an egg replacement available in liquid and folded form, received regulatory approval to enter the $10.7 billion European egg market. The company has dominated the U.S. market since its 2019 launch, selling the equivalent of nearly 200 million chicken eggs. Other competitors in the vegan egg space include Zero Egg and Nestle. Meanwhile, scientists have recently discovered how to create egg whites out of fungi using precision fermentation. The animal-free egg, developed by researchers in Finland, requires 90 percent less land and creates 55 percent fewer greenhouse gases than chicken eggs.

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