is more than 90% of commercial collagen and gelatin It comes from pigs and cows, a by-product of the slaughterhouse industry. The goal of Geltor’s theoretical experiments was not just to generate hype, but to convince potential customers that a product could be made that his current chain of supply could not. “What if we weren’t constrained by the types of animals available as sources of collagen?” Dr. Lorestani recalls asking. He then suggested a particular mammal. That’s how Geltor settled on his first product, his HumaColl21, which the company calls a “virtually colorless and odorless solution.”
2019 Korean Company AHC Launched eye cream containing HumaColl21. aurora skin science, based in Canada, followed by creams and serums in 2021.Over the past two years, Geltor has released biologically similar marine collagen and human elastin (a particularly stretchy protein, as the name suggests) for skin care and poultry – intended for use in dietary supplements. Like collagen. Microorganisms growing in giant fermenters express each of these collagens and they are strained and purified into pure protein. It’s the same,” said Dr. Lorestani. IGEN Certification Program We have confirmed that there is no detectable genetic material in the final product. )
a $91.3 million investment round In 2020, Geltor was able to increase production from 35,000 liters in 2019 to 2.2 million liters in 2021, which is still a relatively small amount. A small bottle of luxury eye cream needs very little HumaColl21. Larger shampoo bottles or jars of collagen powder require more. Enough gelatin to supply a Midwest potluck with a vegan jelly salad requires exponential growth.
These restrictions determined the company’s commercial path. “The amount of product needed by beauty and personal care customers is different than the amount needed by food and nutrition customers,” he said Dr. Lorestani.
Despite such investments, some are skeptical. Julie Guzman, a geographer at the University of California, Santa Cruz who has been investigating Silicon Valley’s forays into agriculture and food, questions the “magical chaos” behind the promise of the alternative protein industry. increase.
“There’s this idea that producing protein from cells or fermenting it in the lab somehow keeps us away from meat production on land,” she said. These companies need energy, metals and food for the microbes themselves. And because their patented process is a closely guarded secret, there’s little transparency in their environmental claims, she noted.
