The Better Fats Company
Designing Better Fats for a Better World - Starting with Chocolate.
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Seminal Biosciences is a company headquartered in Solon, OH with an additional location in San Diego, CA solving key global challenges in the food technology industry.
At Seminal Biosciences Inc. we have a vision to solve large, “Seminal” problems facing the world by combining deep science with the latest technological breakthroughs to develop new to the world solutions. We believe in the potential of science and technology to significantly elevate the human experience and tackle global challenges. We are excited by the promise of the synthetic biology revolution to fundamentally transform and reimagine almost every aspect of the human experience including the way we live and eat.
Seminal Biosciences Inc. in partnership with Nucelis LLC, is currently focused on re-inventing the chocolate category by developing a proprietary synthetic biology-based process to fabricate cocoa butter – a critical chocolate ingredient, without the cacao bean. This breakthrough technology can disrupt the chocolate ecosystem and solve endemic global and humanitarian challenges associated with the chocolate industry. Beyond the focus on cocoa butter and chocolate, the Seminal Biosciences team is also looking to use this powerful synbio platform to develop new and “better” fats that will be an improvement on both taste and sustainability dimensions versus current animal and plant-based fats.
Chocolate Bars made with non-cacao bean
based Cocoa Butter
Seminal Biosciences, Inc., in close strategic collaboration with Nucelis LLC announces the successful development of a prototype of non – cacao bean based cocoa butter made via precision fermentation that matches the performance of
traditional cocoa butter produced from cacao beans. Incorporating its own version of cocoa butter, the Seminal Biosciences team has formed chocolate bars with the same appearance, feel, and taste as dark chocolate produced from cacao beans.
Tasting across a broad cross-section of chocoholics has yielded a universally positive response.
The chocolate industry has long been besieged with two acute challenges: The role it plays in driving deforestation around the world and its reliance on child labor in West Africa cacao farms – which are the largest suppliers of cacao beans in the world. While large global chocolate companies and other governmental and non-governmental entities strive to tackle these issues, the problems persist.
Seminal Biosciences’ current focus to leverage proprietary synthetic biology tools to produce cocoa butter without the use of
cacao beans will enable it to play a critical role to address these endemic issues facing the chocolate industry.
The non-cacao bean based cocoa butter will also significantly enhance quality consistency and supply security for large commercial end users. “In addition to making chocolate more sustainable, with stateside production via bioreactors, this technology will improve the security and reliability for a key ingredient used across a variety of industries” said Alka Roy, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Seminal Biosciences.
The Why
Behind Our Work
Seminal Biosciences is beginning its mission to
create better fats with chocolate first.
Global forest area has declined by 129 million hectares (3.1 percent) in the period from 1990 to 2015 -(FAO, 2015)
Deforestation – A closer look: Tropical countries continue to be challenged by deforestation with cocoa cultivation playing a role.
Crisis in the Tropics: The tropical climatic domain had the highest decrease in forest area of any domain from 2000 to 2010, An estimated 7 million hectares of forest was lost per year over the period in the tropics, and the area of agricultural land increased by 6 million hectares per year.
Deforestation Drivers: Key driver is commercial agriculture in low-income countries.
Cocoa: Cocoa cultivation is the 4th largest agricultural contributor to deforestation in the world.
Negative Impact of Climate Change: Recent analysis shows that climate change will likely impact land suitability for growing cocoa. As land becomes less suitable, cocoa expansion may put additional pressure on forested areas.
Source: FAO reports.
A Serious and Growing Issue that needs to be addressed
Current Levels of Child Labor Participation: As part of the U.S. Department of Labor 2019 findings, it is estimated that more than 1.48 million children are engaged in hazardous child labor in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, which together account for 65% of the world’s cacao bean supply.
West Africa Country specific data: The country-specific data show that 37 percent of children in Côte d’Ivoire and 51 percent of children in Ghana were engaged in hazardous child labor in cocoa production.
Growth in Child Labor Participation: Historic trends indicate that amid a 62 percent increase in cocoa production between 2008-09 and 2018-19 in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in aggregate, the prevalence of child labor in cocoa production among all agricultural households increased 14 percentage points, while the prevalence of hazardous child labor increased by 13 percentage points.
Hazardous Child Labor in Cocoa Farms: Defined as activities related to handling sharp instruments, carrying heavy loads, use of poisonous pesticides, long working hours and working at night.
Drivers: Key driver of child labor in cocoa production though remains economic: endemic poverty in West Africa and low cocoa prices along with growing demand
Designing better fats
Seminal Biosciences’ longer-term goal is to explore the growing space for new-to-the-world fats to complement the plant based and cell cultivated meat and dairy segments. The Seminal Biosciences team is in conversation with multiple current players in this space to address this growing opportunity through key partnerships. The opportunity to introduce “Better Fats” across the global food system to tackle human and environmental issues linked to current plant and animal fats is a founding passion for the Seminal Biosciences team
The food industry is transforming towards improved sustainability, functionality, quality and nutrition”, said Co-Founder Stephen Toon, Ph.D. “Key to the success of this ‘new agriculture’ is the development of fats and oils to complement the recent success in protein-based products. The technology developed by Seminal Biosciences Inc. and Nucelis LLC is fundamental to the continued growth of the sector
Diverse team with technology expertise and commercial leadership across total value chain supported by
advisers with deep industry experience and strong industry relationships
With a background in Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Microbiology, Alka is passionate about leveraging the latest advances in synthetic biology to tackle intractable challenges linked to the global food ecosystem.
Executive leader with comprehensive experience in industrial bioprocess management, business development and process technology integrating commercial operations in complex technology scale ups in large companies and start ups.
Sam is an “AV” rated Trial Lawyer, a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, and successful entrepreneur with broad enterprise leadership experience. Sam provides special counsel for new ventures and is a highly skilled advisor for strategic business development, risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, intellectual property protection and financing.
Nucelis, San Diego, CA
30+ years of management and research experience in the specialty chemicals business. Held key management positions with Chemtura Corporation including President of Petroleum Additives. Inventor on over 25 U.S. patents and has authored numerous scientific and product papers.
Research focus on cacao bean fermentation and the parameters that influence chocolate quality, flavor, and aroma profiles. Focus: Chocolate Research & Development.
Officer, HP Inc.
Leads worldwide marketing.
Nucelis LLC deploys its proprietary gene-editing technologies for the efficient development of innovative traits in microorganisms, such as yeast, bacteria and algae, to produce high value, sustainably sourced specialty ingredients for the personal care, nutrition and flavor and fragrance industries.
Nucelis is excited to be working with Seminal Biosciences to develop a new generation of sustainable fats and oils for the food industry” said Sean O’ Connor, Ph.D., CEO of Nucelis LLC.
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