Shiru partners with Puratos to explore and scale sustainable plant-based protein ingredients for baked goods

Leveraging proteins identified by Shiru’s Flourish™ platform, the partners will scale up prototype production of select ingredients for further evaluation.

ALAMEDA, Calif., August 31, 2022 – Shiru, a functional ingredients discovery company, announced today a new partnership with Puratos, the industry leader in innovative food ingredients for bakery, to evaluate naturally-occurring proteins identified by Shiru’s proprietary Flourish™ platform as a promising next-generation egg replacement.

The partnership will focus on scaling the production of prototypes for further evaluation, leveraging Puratos’ expertise in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate ingredient industry. The project aims to produce new functional ingredients that will unlock opportunity and innovation in plant-based baked goods that are both sustainable and tasty. 

“Puratos and Shiru share the vision that our food system can be a force for good in terms of sustainability and nutrition, making us ideal partners,” said Jasmin Hume, Shiru CEO, and founder. "Our Flourish discovery platform has identified functional ingredients that can unlock desirable plant-based baked goods products. We’re eager to test and scale these discoveries with Puratos, the global leader in baked goods ingredients. By working together, we have the chance to make a major impact towards a more sustainable food system."

Flourish, Shiru’s discovery platform, uses machine learning and bioinformatics to search through hundreds of millions of naturally-occurring proteins to identify promising candidates that match a specific desired food function—in this case, for use as ingredients in baked goods. Then, using precision fermentation and high-throughput screening techniques, Shiru produces these proteins and evaluates their performance as ingredients. The result is a functional ingredient that can be produced sustainably at scale whose taste and nutrition are as good as or better than animal-based alternatives.

With Puratos, Shiru will scale production and testing for the target functional proteins, accelerating the timeline for making these ingredients available in baked goods for consumers. Puratos will leverage its fermentation capability and expertise to produce prototype quantities of the Shiru discovered proteins before conducting detailed food application testing in a range of baked goods. 

“At Puratos, we truly believe that collaborations can fuel innovation within the food ecosystem,” stated Paul Baisier, Chief R&D Officer at Puratos. “As a company rooted in biology and science, Shiru is the perfect partner in the Puratos’s journey to finding novel uses for proteins discovered by Shiru’s Flourish platform as functional food ingredients that are sustainable, healthy and delicious. Together with Shiru, we will be able to accelerate our plant-based product innovation pipeline for the benefit of our customers and consumers.”

Puratos has a strong history of innovation in the food space, and of using technology to enable breakthroughs. In addition to the ingredient development aspect of the partnership, Shiru is also exhibiting in Puratos’s Puradome, a cutting-edge FoodTech Center where the harshest conditions of planet Mars are used as extraordinary inspiration to stimulate food innovation. 

This partnership is the latest from Shiru’s innovation pipeline, including a recently announced partnership with nature-based ingredient solutions company CP Kelco. In the past few months, Shiru announced that Impossible Foods veteran Ranjani Varadan joined as Chief Scientific Officer, as well as three industry-leading advisors, including Dean Banks, former Tyson CEO. 

About Shiru
Shiru is an ingredient discovery company on a mission to improve the sustainability of our food system. Using a combination of machine learning, bioinformatics, and precision fermentation, Shiru is uncovering new uses for naturally-occurring proteins as functional ingredients that can replace animal-based products used in food today. Founded in 2019, Shiru is developing a growing range of functional ingredients, initially focused on scaling up ingredients for gelation, egg replacement, and structured fats functions. Powered by a team of technology experts and food industry veterans, Shiru is working to reduce the world’s reliance on animals for food by providing delicious, cost-effective, healthy, and sustainable alternatives. Shiru is based in Alameda, California, and is backed by leading venture capital firms such as S2G Ventures, Lux Capital, and CPT Capital. For more information, visit www.shiru.com. 

**Shiru Media Contact: **Kevin Costa, Director of Brand & Communications, kevin@shiru.com

**About Puratos **
Puratos is an international group, which offers a full range of innovative food ingredients and services for the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors. We serve artisans, retailers, industrial and food service companies in over 100 countries around the world. Our headquarters are located in Belgium, where the company was founded in 1919. At Puratos, we believe that food has extraordinary power in our lives. We do not take such a responsibility lightly. This is why we aim to help customers be successful with their business, by turning technologies and experience gathered from food cultures around the world into new opportunities. Together, we move the planet forward by creating innovative food solutions for the health and well-being of people everywhere.

**Puratos Media Contact: **Philippe Arnauts, PArnauts@puratos.com