Animal-free egg whites make their African debut at SingularityU South Africa Summit
Vegan, animal-free egg whites - the future of food
Four attendees at the annual SingularityU South Africa Summit 2024 were the first in Africa to taste vegan, animal-free egg whites created through precision fermentation by a Silicon Valley food-tech company.
Arturo Elizondo, founder and CEO of The EVERY Company, has finally settled the age-old question, “which came first the chicken of the egg?” when he created the world’s first egg whites without a chicken last year – after nine years in development and over $150-million worth of investment.
The Silicon Valley food-tech company leverages a process known as precision fermentation to brew real animal proteins without the use of a single animal in an attempt to create a more sustainable and equitable food system by using cutting-edge technologies.
“The way we make animal protein today is the number one cause of extinction on Earth. It is the number one cause of habitat destruction, ocean dead zones and water pollution,”
he said citing the destructive nature of our food systems, the rise of factory farms and the industrialisation of animal feeding operations.
“The demand for animal protein is expected to double by 2050,”
added Elizondo.
From a food security perspective, particularly in developing countries across Africa,
“the first thing people do when they enter the middle class is buy animal protein. If you plot all of the world's countries, there's almost a one-to-one correlation between GDP per capita and animal protein consumption,”
Elizondo explained.
The EVERY Company, which has launched three sustainable food products to date alongside the world's biggest food companies, chose to experiment with making egg proteins because it is such a common ingredient in many foods. EVERY egg proteins can also be used to make digestive enzymes, animal-free egg white smoothie protein, meringues and macaroons, as well as various other baked goods.
However, precision fermentation is not a new process. It makes use of two products found in every kitchen: yeast and sugar. It’s been around for 40 years, explained Elizondo, as it is also used to make rennet for cheese, insulin for diabetics, and plant-based meats.
“We've replaced the pig for insulin protein production. We've replaced the cow for rennet protein production. And so I thought, ‘Can you apply this technology to democratise access to more proteins, especially in those industries that are in dire need of disruption,”
he continued.
“Our eggs have zero cholesterol, zero saturated fat, zero risk of Salmonella, zero risk of Avian Flu, zero hormones and antibiotics. All because there were zero chickens involved,”
beamed Elizondo.
SingularityU South Africa Summit 2024 attendees taste vegan animal-free egg whites
As a first for the continent, four attendees at the annual SingularityU South Africa Summit, held in collaboration with Old Mutual had the chance to join Arturo Elizondo and Shayne Mann, co-CEO of SingularityU South Africa, on stage. They were the winners of the summit’s metaverse treasure hunt game that took place on Africarare on day 1 of the summit. They watched the eggs being cooked and sampled EVERY’s animal-free egg whites.
“This history, it is literally changing the $100 billion egg industry. It's coming,”
said Mann.
