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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

TurtleTree

TurtleTree Debuts Animal-Free Lactoferrin

TurtleTree, a biotechnology startup using precision fermentation to create bioactive ingredients such as animal-free milk proteins, has announced it will debut its precision-fermentation derived lactoferrin, which has the commercial name of LF+, tonight at a tasting event in San Francisco.

The bioactive milk protein, which the company says is nicknamed “pink gold” due to its high-cost and pink hue, is much sought after for its health benefits, including immunity, iron regulation, and digestive health support. However, conventional extraction techniques require massive amounts of cow’s milk – up to 10,000 liters, the equivalent of a week’s worth of milk production from nearly 50 cows – to obtain just 1 kilogram of purified lactoferrin. Because of this, traditionally derived lactoferrin costs anywhere between $700 to $1,500 per kilogram, which has been a gating factor in the broader adoption of this valuable protein.

By using precision fermentation, which uses microbes embedded with lactoferrin’s recipe to produce the protein, TurtleTree hopes to offer a more affordable and sustainably-derived form of lactoferrin to the market in LF+. If they are successful, the company may be one of the first startups launched in recent years to target proteins for infants (and beyond) using cellular agriculture to bring a scaled, revenue-generating product line to market. More broadly, the company may have also engineered an approach to make lactoferrin more widely available to consumers through a variety of products.

The move towards precision fermentation to produce functional proteins is a sign the company has evolved since it was founded in 2019. When The Spoon first interviewed the company, they focused primarily on using cell-cultivation methods to produce breast milk analogs. According to CTO Max Rye at the time, the company was using cell-cultivation techniques to grow mammary gland cells in a lab that would lactate milk. Company CEO Fengru Lin speculated early on that their first product would be human breast milk.

Fast forward to 2023, and the company has become more diversified in its approach to utilizing cellular agriculture techniques after bringing on some key hires skilled in the application of precision fermentation, a move that looks to have accelerated its path toward revenue with the commercialization of its animal-free lactoferrin. The company hopes to launch LF+ in the fourth quarter of this year.

You can watch the TurtleTree hero reel on their new product below:

Unlocking The Future of Nutrition with LF+, TurtleTree’s Unique Lactoferrin

Cell-Based Breastmilk Startup TurtleTree Eyes Lactoferrin as First Commercial Product

TurtleTree, a startup developing human breastmilk using cellular agriculture technology, has announced that its first commercially available product will be lactoferrin, a protein found in both animal and cow milk.

Lactoferrin has long been viewed as a critical protein to both fight infection and to aid in brain development of young children, as well as a supplement to help women fight iron deficiencies, has more recently gained traction for its ability to help fight against COVID-19 infection.

While today’s supplement industry uses cow-derived lactoferrin, human breastmilk has 5-7 times the concentration. TurtleTree saw an opportunity.

“We have been able to identify early commercial ingredient targets due to our frequent conversations with prominent performance nutrition and infant formula companies,” said Max Rye, Chief Strategist of TurtleTree. “We’ve since seen tremendous interest from global partners in our portfolio of human and bovine milk products. It is going to be an exciting year for us.”

TurtleTree focus on lactoferrin as it’s first product for scaled commercial production doesn’t mean it’s giving up on creating fully realized cell-based breastmilk. The company is still working on its technology that grows mammary gland cells in a lab which actually lactate milk, but recognizes it could take a few years before cell-based milk can scale and has full regulatory approval.

TurtleTree isn’t the only cell-based breastmilk startup to make the news lately. Earlier this week BioMILQ announced that it has successfully made human breast milk outside the breast. Another, Israel-based BioMilk, is looking to create both human and cow milk analogs and recently became publicly listed on Tel Aviv stock exchange despite being few years out still from commercially scaled production.