Paladini is the CEO of Moolec Science, a molecular farming firm that uses crops to grow animal proteins. The idea is to turn plants into tiny, field-based factories that can produce high-value proteins and other molecules that might be used to supplement existing products, or provide a meaty heft to plant-based food. “This is the real thing. These are real meat-protein molecules,” says Paladini.
In June 2023, Moolec revealed that it had inserted genes from pigs into soy plants in order to make soybeans that expressed porcine proteins. The experiments were carried out at the company’s greenhouses in Wisconsin. In some of the soybeans, over a quarter of the soluble proteins were identified as pig. It’s not quite the bleeding soybean that he first imagined, but [CEO Gastón] Palidini was still impressed with just how much pig protein his soybeans seemed to produce. The beans have a pinky hue and a meaty taste, he says, though the company is still awaiting a full analysis of their nutritional qualities. Next year, Paladini hopes to take the soybeans to outdoor field trials in Wisconsin.
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