Chicken egg white powder is a resource that is widely used in the food industry due to its high-quality protein. There is a growing demand for the resource and consumption of egg white. The demand is currently 1.6 million tons and is expected to increase further in the coming years. This has raised questions about its sustainability and ethics. Intensive chicken farming has resulted in outbreaks of different zoonotic diseases, and experts are currently seeking ways to avoid the negative results of producing more egg white powder for the growing market.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland discovered a potential alternative to the current method of production, the fungus-produced ovalbumin. According to Dr. Emilia Nordlund, from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, ovalbumin(which is half of the egg white powder) can be produced through a microbial production system. “For example, more than half of the egg white powder protein content is ovalbumin. VTT has succeeded in producing ovalbumin with the help of the filamentous ascomycete fungus Trichoderma reesei. The gene carrying the blueprints for ovalbumin is inserted by modern biotechnological tools into the fungus which then produces and secretes the same protein that chickens produce. The ovalbumin protein is then separated from the cells, concentrated, and dried to create a final functional product,” she said.
Image credit: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland