The United States government has approved the use in that country of genetically modified soybeans containing meat proteins developed by the Argentinian company Moolec Science. Member of the Bioceres Group (based in Rosario) and specialized in the production of food ingredients developed on the basis of molecular agriculture.
The transgenic event, trade name “Piggy Sooy,” has been approved by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and consists of soybean plants genetically engineered to be able to express pig proteins at up to 26.6% of the total soluble protein present in Seeds.
The company is working to insert pork genes into soybeans and beef genes into seeds to create hybrid plant-animal proteins that can replace real meat in sausages and hamburgers, while still satisfying consumers' tastes.
“During January 2024, Mollick conducted molecular analyzes to determine the number of copies of the porcine myoglobin gene per plant in each of the 10 events selected for the third hit. The results were positive and indicated a consistent number of copies of the porcine myoglobin gene in each event.”
The company, led by Argentine businessman Gastón Paladini, is developing another milestone in bean varieties, having so far developed 104 transgenic lines that fall between the primary and the second multiplication phase.
“Preliminary molecular tests conducted by Mollick’s scientific team have identified the presence of the bovine gene in seeds of the first and second generations. The results show that the bovine gene was stably introduced into the genome of bean plants during genetic engineering and stably inherited to subsequent generations,” the company explained.
Last year, Moolec Sciences bought ValoraSoy in Cordoba, dedicated to the production and export of complex soy protein. It did so in order to establish a meat substitute manufacturing plant based on plants designed as bioreactors.
That's why soybean varieties with the SOOY1 event, as the US-certified GMO event is called, will be processed with the same technology used by ValoraSoy. Allowing, for example, hamburgers to be produced using animal proteins obtained from a single plant source rather than using multiple ingredients to make an imitation.
