Plant-Based & Vegan Active Updated Sep 2, 2026
Can plant-based meat get real meat flavor without an animal?
Engineering myoglobin for plant-based meat
Where it stands as of Sep 4, 2026
Belgian startup Paleo engineers a food yeast to make bioidentical myoglobin, the iron-rich protein behind meat's color and savory flavor, and raised a 2 million euro round to fund US and Canadian regulatory filings and formulation trials, after cutting production costs 613-fold since 2020. An Imperial College London team separately got lettuce and tobacco plants to make myoglobin at roughly a tenth of beef's level. Neither has cleared a regulator or reached a shelf.
Belgian startup Paleo engineers the food yeast Komagataella phaffii to produce bioidentical myoglobin, the iron-rich protein behind meat's color and umami flavor, through fermentation rather than an animal or a genetically modified crop. The stakes are whether the ingredient clears US and Canadian regulators and proves out in real formulation trials with meat-alternative brands.
The story so far
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Sep 2, 2026 Latest
Belgian startup Paleo raised a 2 million euro ($2.3 million) round led by Beyond Impact to fund US and Canadian regulatory filings and formulation trials for its fermentation-made, bioidentical myoglobin, after cutting production costs 613-fold since 2020.
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Aug 10, 2026
A team led by Alexia Groff at Imperial College London used a gene gun to deliver pig genes into the chloroplasts of lettuce and tobacco seedlings, producing lettuce and tobacco plants that stably made myoglobin at about 800 and 810 milligrams per kilogram of dry weight, roughly a tenth of beef's level, and passed the trait to their seed offspring.
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