The search for alternative forms of nutrition for human consumption is increasingly big business, driven by costs in the supply chain and environmental concerns around the production of certain food groups.
The technology behind creating alternative products with the taste, texture and complexity of traditional foods is an exciting technical field and one that has been a rich source of patents in the last decade. In this article we'll consider the state-of-play for alternative sources of nutrition and where patents are being employed to protect the fascinating processes utilised to create them.
A brief overview of the alternative foods market and IP
A recent WIPO report identifies alternative nutrient sources for human food as an increasingly aggressive area for patent filing internationally. While the US remains the largest single market for filings, Europe, Canada, China and Japan are not far behind in terms of the number of applications.
Some of the largest consumer food brands in the world, such as Nestlé, as well as major players in the food industry such as DSM-Firmenich, BASF and Cargill, have all developed extensive portfolios of alternative nutrient source products. Nevertheless, it is through a vibrant start-up culture of smaller innovators that a wide range of novel alternative foodstuffs are being bought to market, before securing investment from larger players.
Inventors working on alternative foods and ingredients are making use of cutting edge technology and chemistry to research and produce food analogues. As examples, CRISPR-based genome editing is being used to manipulate the properties of microorganisms to create specific compositions as food analogues and to reduce allergenic risk by deactivating the genes responsible for encoding the major allergenic proteins; and mass spectrometry has been used in research to analyse the structure of traditional foods to identify how they might be replicated from alternative sources of nutrition.
Patenting a taste: a commentary on the patentability of alternative food sources
Pursuing intellectual property in the food and drink industry is an intriguing area of patent practice. What exactly is protectable in a food product? Can you determine what makes a particular taste, texture or flavour composition unique – and in doing so, secure protection for it? While it may appear esoteric, this is nevertheless a widespread and active field of patent activity. Intellectual property – and patents particularly – are an integral part of the development processes for major food brands and start-ups internationally. Some of the aspects of the production of alternative foods which are potentially patentable include:
Novel protein and ingredient sources:
- Unique strains or varieties of plants, fungi, algae, or microorganisms that produce proteins with specific desirable traits.
- Equally, entirely new proteins which have been synthesised or genetically modified for use in an alternative foodstuffs.
Novel production methods:
- Upstream (USP) fermentation processes, used to ferment microorganisms to produce proteins, flavour enhancers or functional additives; and downstream (DSP) extraction and purification of proteins from various sources such as plants and algae.
Unique product recipes:
- The development of new ingredients or compositions that improve the texture, stability, or sensory qualities food stuffs from alternative nutrient sources.
- Additionally, methods for mixing different proteins to achieve a specific nutritional profile or consumer appeal.
Unique product formulations:
- Finally, formulations for plant-based or cultured food products that replicate the nutritional profile of animal-based foods to emulate their taste, texture and appearance.
The application of patented technologies and practices has been demonstrated in a broad range of alternative foods – some examples of which are featured below.
Meat alternatives
Alternatives to animal meat is the broadest source of IP in the alternative foods space. The ecological and environmental impact of intensive meat farming has been well documented. Accordingly, several methods for producing meat-free meat alternatives at scale have been utilised widely, including:
- Plant-based alternatives: By far the largest sector of potential meat-free alternatives (as evidenced on pages 27–28 of this GFI Europe report) makes use of plant sources such as wheat, soy, peas and algae in novel combinations and variations to synthesise the taste and texture of meat. This is a broad sector for patent families, including WO2020/205274 (relating to a composition of flavourings an colourings to mimic the appearance of raw or cooked meat) and Nestlé's WO2022/253643 (for a meat analogue product comprising plant protein which has a meat-like colour appearance by the addition of a colorant).
- Cell-based alternatives: By taking single cellular cultures from animals and cultivating in the lab, it is possible to grow meat without the need for traditional farming methods. Patent families in this area include Good Meat's cell-based chicken meat as described in WO2020/252388 (relating to avian fibroblast cells and methods for harvesting the avian fibroblast cells to produce a chicken product).
- Fermented meat alternatives: Created through biomass or precision fermentation methods, proteins can be cultivated to replicate the taste, look and feel of animal meat. These methods can also be utilised to create analogues of animal-free egg and dairy products created from fungi. While still a more niche field of invention, this nevertheless has seen great growth in patent fillings in the last five years. Every, for example, holds patents for its processes to cultivate and ferment yeast in order to make egg protein, created after ten years of research, (including WO2016/077457, WO2022/246284, WO2024/159022).
Fish alternatives
As part of that wider spectrum of the meat alternatives, seafood and fish substitutes are also being developed at pace. This includes the work of Revo Foods, who have produced THE FILET and THE KRAKEN – which utilise fermented fungi protein to produce the texture, mouthfeel and taste of salmon fillet and octopus, respectively. Despite being initially thought of as "too niche" for mass production, THE KRAKEN has been made a permanent offering due to strong customer demand.
Dairy and egg alternatives
Alternatives to dairy and egg-based products already have a significant market – for example, oat, soy and almond milk are mainstream alternatives on supermarket shelves. Patent examples include the likes of WO2022/148567 (for a plant-based fermented dairy alternative, in particular yoghurt, where the plant-based substrate is treated with an endopeptidase which is said to reduce syneresis) and WO2018/191629 (for a plant-based milk alternative composition which aims to emulate the nutritional and functional properties of dairy milk).
Exotic products
Disruption to supply chains caused by environmental change is already making a difference to the underlying costs of coffee and chocolate. In addition, increased regulatory frameworks concerned with protecting against deforestation and managing sustainability internationally make finding suitable alternatives to the taste and texture of the likes of coffee and chocolate a competitive field of innovation.
The production of cacao, which is processed to become cocoa, is becoming increasingly challenging to grow in countries in which it is a significant food crop. With that comes supply concerns and price rises. This risk has not gone unnoticed by major players in the industry and start-ups looking to produce alternatives to cocoa and cocoa butter are continuing to see strong levels of investment. The likes of Voyage Foods, Nukoko and Planet A Foods are already producing alternatives to chocolate for use in consumer treats.
To consider one of those in depth, let's examine the success of Planet A Foods and the intellectual property that is essential to that success.
Case Study: Planet A Foods
Planet A Foods was founded in 2021 and has created two alternative chocolate products: chocolate alternative ChoViva and cocoa butter alternative ChoViva Butter.
To create ChoViva, Planet A Foods collaborated with the University of Zurich in Switzerland, utilising mass spectrometry to identify the composition of the flavour profile of cocoa. As a result, the firm was able to formulate a process that utilises fermented and slow-roasted sunflower and grape seeds, in combination with emulsifiers and fats, to mimic the palette and mouthfeel of cocoa. ChoViva was the result.
To go alongside this, Planet A Foods examined the potential of yeast strains to create alternatives to the composition of cocoa butter. After careful investigation, the Planet A team identified Yarrowia lipolytica which – with the application of a CRISPR tool – can be engineered to produce a fat which is chemically and compositionally identical to that of cocoa butter. Whilst there is some natural variation in the composition of the fatty acid constituents, cocoa butter is primarily a triglyceride derived from palmitic, oleic and stearic acids.
The business currently holds two (published) patent families relating to its processes:
WO2023/285547 which concerns the general concept of producing cocoa alternatives by heating plant material (principally sunflower and/or grape seeds) with amino acids and a sugar such as glucose and/or fructose. It is said that the flavour composition produced by such a method can be adjusted to mimic the flavour profiles of different cocoa types.
WO2025/133169 which concerns a development of the preceding application and includes heating the mixture to 60–90°C under vacuum of 500 mbar to provide a dry intermediate with a moisture content of 15% or lower before roasting. Such a dry incubation is said to remove off-flavours from the mixture, such as hexanal, acetoin and pinene, to provide an improved flavour profile (i.e. improved chocolatiness), as verified using gas chromatograph mass spectrometry.
Planet A Foods has continued to develop its portfolio of products making use of its ChoViva chocolate alternative, including a plant-based chocolate product created in collaboration with Lindt. The firm's rising profile resulted in 2024 in securing $30M in a Series B funding round to expand across Europe, the US and Asia. Its products are now becoming more wildly available in the UK and in Asia, including ChoViva being utilised in own-brand biscuits for Japanese retail giant Aeon and in easter-themed products for Aldi.
Conclusions
As environmental challenges continue to impact food supply chains and consumers become more conscious of the ecological impact of the products they are buying, the hunt for alternative sources of nutrients for human food will continue apace. Balancing the need for a sustainable product that doesn't compromise on the flavour profile that consumers expect of traditional products is a challenge, but one that innovators are rising to. As they do, patent protection is likely to be increasingly sought after to secure the underlying technology and chemistry that is making such fascinating food products a reality.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
