Animal-free egg protein powers ‘world’s first protein-boosted hard juice’ from The EVERY Co and Pulp Culture

12-Oct-2022 - Last updated on 12-Oct-2022 at 14:34 GMT

Billed as the “world’s first protein-boosted hard juice,” BUILD by Pulp Culture adds an intriguing new twist to the functional beverage space with a 4.9% ABV fermented juice laced with adaptogens, probiotics,* and a highly-soluble, ‘near invisible’ animal-free egg protein made by The EVERY Company using microbes, not chickens.

BUILD, which “required zero masking agents, sugar or other unnecessary additives” – contains on-trend ingredients ashwagandha and cordyceps, and 5g protein, something previously beyond the reach of Pulp Culture’s formulators, who had “struggled to identify a protein that possessed the solubility, texture and neutral taste profile suitable for their premium live-culture beverages,” said The EVERY Co’s founder and CEO Arturo Elizondo.

“This launch further proves EVERY Protein’s capacity to unlock never-before-seen-or-tasted innovations.”

But do consumers really want protein with their alcoholic beverages?

Mark McTavish, CEO of Pulp Culture, told us: "Converging trends suggest consumers are interested in both functional beverages and protein addition to drinks."

He added: "As a premium offering with a best in class value proposition, our products are targeting a more educated consumer who prioritizes their health and performance above all. Pulp Culture fits squarely into the functional beverage category, with function at the core of our product formulations and nomenclature. Our typical customers are mushroom lovers, endurance athletes, and fitness fanatics.

"We also receive plenty of interest from hard working parents, entrepreneurs, and other high performing folks who want to get more out of their adult beverage. We often hear our customers say things like, I don’t drink often, but when I do…..I only drink Pulp Culture.'"

Available now to national audiences online, a retail rollout will follow shortly, said The EVERY Company, which mines the egg proteome for “novel, hyper-functional proteins” it can express in yeast or other organisms – and has already commercialized three ingredients:

EVERY Protein: (Formerly EVERY ClearEgg) a highly soluble, ‘nearly invisible’ protein bio-identical to a glycoprotein found in egg white enabling “new-to-the-world, protein-boosted beverages and food products with a neutral sensory profile and optical clarity.”

EVERY EggWhite: A 1-to-1 nature-equivalent egg white replacer.

EVERY Pepsin: Animal-free pepsin (an enzyme traditionally sourced from pig stomachs) “offering greater quality, purity and secure, and consistent sourcing.”

Pulp Culture plays in the emerging 'hard alternatives' category with hard pressed juices enhanced by superfoods and adaptogens sold direct to consumer, Thrive Market, and at select retailers including Sprouts, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, HEB, Natural Grocers, New Seasons, and PCC Community Markets.

BUILD (SRP $16.99/4 pack, 4.9%ABV) is the first release in the new 'hyper-functional' Pulp Culture+ line, now nationally available online while supplies last, with brick and mortar retail roll-out to follow.

“We know people, especially fitness enthusiasts, want the positive outcomes of a better beverage that naturally contains alcohol—and it’s finally here," claimed Pulp Culture co-founder and former Ironman triathlete Brendan Brazier.

Precision fermentation production milestone

Precision fermentation is already operating at scale for several food ingredients, with engineered microbes now used to make everything from chymosin (an enzyme used in cheesemaking to replace rennet from calves’ stomachs) to B vitamins, fine chemicals and amino acids.

However, industrial-scale microbial fermentation to make milk and egg proteins is still fairly new territory, prompting The EVERY Co to team up with AB InBev’s global investment and innovation group BioBrew last year to develop an industrial scale fermentation platform for its proteins.

“In August of this year we saw the first major step-up to large-scale fermentation through the strategic alliance," said Elizondo. "The milestone is a bellwether for EVERY’s mission to democratize protein delivery. We continue using our network of toll manufacturers globally, but we are now also operationalizing our joint partnership by working through them to access additional industrial scale capacity before a new facility comes online."

*The probiotics claimed on the pack are not characterized or listed on the label.

Arturo Elizondo: 'This launch further proves EVERY Protein’s capacity to unlock never-before-seen-or-tasted innovations...' Image credit: The EVERY Co

Founded by Arturo Elizondo and David Anchel in late 2014, The EVERY Co (formerly Clara Foods) engineers yeast strains to express proteins found in eggs during a fermentation process requiring a source of sugars as the feedstock.

The proteins are secreted into the broth in the tank and removed via a simple filtration process.

The genetically engineered yeast is not present in the final proteins, which would not be classified as ‘bioengineered’ under new federal labeling laws, says the company, which has secured a ‘no questions’ letter from the FDA in response to its GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) determination for EVERY Protein.

"The end product contains no sugar, no genetically modified organisms, and no rDNA."

While some of its products serve as drop-in replacements for ingredients already on the market such as egg whites or pepsin, precision fermentation enables the production of individual proteins in eggs with unique properties that have not previously been commercialized as it’s too expensive to extract them from eggs, said Elizondo.

Interested in precision fermentation?

Check out our upcoming digital summit, Futureproofing the Food System (Nov 15-17), which delves into precision fermentation on the opening session of day one: Food Tech in Focus:

MORNING SESSION (11am- 12.45pm Central time): Sustainable Sourcing for Colors, Flavors, and Sweeteners; and plotting a future for dairy… without cows

PANEL: Biosynthesis: Fermentation and the future of flavors, colors and sweeteners Does it always make sense to extract flavors, colors, sweeteners and other food ingredients from plants if you can produce them more efficiently - and more sustainably – via microbial fermentation, ‘cell-free’ approaches or plant cell culture?

Dr Joshua Britton, founder and CEO, Debut Biotech
Nusqe Spanton, founder and CEO, Provectus Algae
Dr David Welch, CSO and co-founder, Synthesis Capital
Ricky Cassini, CEO and co-founder, Michroma
Dr Erin Marasco, global biology lead, Cargill
MODERATOR: Elaine Watson, senior editor, FoodNavigator-USA

PANEL: Dairy 2.0: Plant-based milks now account for more than 15% of the fluid milk market, while plant-based cheese, creamers, yogurts and ice cream continue to gain traction. So where is the market going next, where’s the white space in the category, and what is the potential of a new wave of ‘animal-free dairy’ products made with real milk proteins and fats, minus the cows?