High oleic oil: We’re changing the paradigm here
But the biggest game-changer in the food space could be the firm’s new high-oleic oil, which scooped an innovation award at the IFT show this year, predicts Rakitsky.
Unique in the food space with an unprecedented amount (c. 90%) of healthy, monounsaturated fat (oleic acid), 6-8% saturates and less than 2% poly-unsaturates, it is ultra-stable, and could applications as a packaged food ingredient or a frying oil, he says.
“Think about it. We’re changing the paradigm here. If you want to develop a new soybean oil with a certain fatty acid profile through agricultural biotechnology [such as those recently developed by Monsanto and DuPont] you’re talking about a 10-15 year, $150-$200m endeavor.”
To embark on something like that, you’ve got to be supremely confident that there is a “significant market opportunity waiting for you on the other side”, and that means millions of tons of oil and major infrastructure changes across the supply chain, he says.
While Solazyme still needs to gain regulatory approvals via the GRAS process, the commercial risk is not remotely of the same magnitude, he says.
“We can convert sugar to oil in a few days. It doesn’t have to be a decade long multi-million dollar enterprise for us.”