Clara Foods creates eggs without chickens

An American startup has developed a yeast-based protein to target the growing demand for plant-based egg substitutes

Spotted: US-based Clara Foods wants you to have your cake and eat it too – without cracking a single egg. The startup uses yeast and sugar to create a plant-based protein that mimics the DNA in eggs.

Clara Foods (Clara means ‘egg white’ in Spanish) aims to replicate the frothy quality egg whites give to baked goods. It is also working on a tasteless egg protein that can be used in drinks and food.

The quest for plant-based proteins and egg substitutes is an increasingly crowded field. But Clara Food says it is different because it is a stripped down alternative to animal-based proteins. There are no masking agents or other additives to deal with bad taste or the wrong texture, the company says. Instead it seeks to “enable the next generation of food products and make something that performs better and tastes better”.

Clara Foods’ formula for plant-based protein has already caught investors’ attention. The startup recently raised more than $20 million, according to Bloomberg.