“Cracking” into the Chicken-Free Egg Space

Published in

Mudcake

8 min readMay 20, 2022

The alternative protein industry is definitely having a moment: consumers all over the world are converting to animal-free proteins for various health, ethical, and sustainability reasons.

In the US alone, it’s estimated that some 79 million households are now seeking more plant-based food, a 61% increase from previous years; elsewhere in the world, where strong vegetarian traditions have existed for centuries, such as in India, the interest in plant-based foods is even higher, with 63% of Indians (some 869 million people), open to switching to plant-based proteins.

Usually, though, when we think of alt-protein, most of us imagine beef-free burgers and plant-based milk; for forward-thinking foodies, animal-free doesn’t stop there: enter chicken-free eggs.

TL;DR

Plant-based proteins are on the rise, and egg is the fastest-growing plant-based category
Chicken-free “eggs” are gaining popularity for a number of reasons, consumers’ concerns about the sustainability, ethics, and safety of the poultry industry, as well as their own individual dietary restrictions
Presently, there are at least 40 startups working on chicken-free eggs, and probably a few more still in stealth more, in addition to a number of scaleups and corporate actors in the space
There are many means of “hatching” alt eggs, but one way of distinguishing is between plant-based and biotech approaches;
Challenges for alt-egg creators are recreating the functionality, nutritional value, and taste of one of the world’s most ubiquitous and versatile ingredients;
Potential benefits of alt-eggs include revolutionizing the alternative protein industry by recreating a kitchen staple in a way that is sustainable and more inclusive of diverse dietary needs.

An egg a day keeps the doctor away?

The global egg market is huge, and with good reason. Eggs are among the most popular protein sources worldwide: the average American alone eats nearly 300 eggs a year (adding up to a grand total of some 1.14 billion eggs nationwide), which is still less than the average person in Japan, who consumes 320 eggs a year, or the average Paraguayan, eating 309 a year.

Long story short? People all over the world love eggs! And it’s no wonder: not only are eggs an excellent source of protein (and vitamins and minerals), they’re also versatile, with a range of uses in cooking and baking (not to mention the classics — scrambled, fried, or boiled).

…but at what cost?

Meeting this massive consumer demand, however, has come at a price: factory-farming in the poultry industry is notoriously problematic, raising concerns about ethics and sustainability both among producers and consumers; approximately 90% of the over one trillion eggs eaten each year across the globe are factory-farmed. Animal rights activists routinely cite animal welfare issues as a key concern, with chickens kept caged, in industrial and inhumane conditions.

Sustainability experts note that the carbon footprint of eggs isn’t exactly negligible either: some 2.7 kilograms of CO2 per dozen eggs (similar to the carbon footprint of milk and other dairy products). Still others are concerned about the safety of the actual eggs, with past outbreaks of poultry-related illnesses (such as avian flu and salmonella), which have decreased consumer confidence in the egg industry as a whole. And, finally, for a growing number of folks with dietary restrictions worldwide — vegans, people with egg allergies, folks on low-calorie, and low-cholesterol diets — regular chicken eggs just aren’t an option.

Enter alternative eggs

Food entrepreneurs and innovators have been working hard to create healthy, tasty, functional, and nutritious egg alternatives, which is no easy feat. Eggs are one of the hardest-working ingredients in the kitchen: they fluff, thicken, bind, emulsify rise, scramble, fry, and boil; if consumers are going to replace them, they want their alt-eggs to do the same (not to mention feel, taste, smell, look, and nourish like the ‘real’ deal, too).

Nevertheless, a few brave-hearted founders across the globe are intent on trying to recreate the classic fan favorite, without the chickens. The numbers are in their favor, too: at the moment, egg is the fastest-growing plant-based category, with sales surging nearly 200% from 2019 to 2020 alone; in 2021, the market was valued at 1.4 billion USD and is expected to reach 1.6 billion USD by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6%.

According to our research, over 40 startups are presently hard at work trying to tap into that growing market (along with a pretty broad array of corporate and other non-startup actors, too). From a geographical standpoint, the United States, France, Germany, Israel, and Singapore are emerging as alt-egg hotspots, with over 28 alt-egg startups from those 5 countries.

The approaches can be boiled (pun intended) down into two broad camps: plant-based and biotech. The first category consists of low-tech approaches, utilizing plant-based alternatives to classic chicken eggs; the most common ingredients are legumes and pulses (e.g. chickpeas, peas, and lentils), beans (e.g. lupin, fava), nuts (e.g. almonds, cashews, and coconuts), and other plant-based alternatives (e.g. sunflower seeds, lemna, and algae).

Biotech approaches to hatching chicken-free eggs are more high-tech; the most common methods are cellular agriculture, precision fermentation, bio-engineering, and AI-backed ingredient informatics. The products themselves are just as varied: the alt-egg space consists of bakery & confectionary egg replacers (e.g. egg white alternatives, powdered egg replacers), condiments (e.g. mayonnaise, sauces), and direct replacements (e.g. liquid scramble & omelet mixes, hard-boiled ‘eggs,’ and even crackable, fryable, whole vegan ‘eggs’) designed with both the commercial and private consumer in mind.

First Movers

Eat Just, founded in 2011 in San Francisco, was one of the first companies to dive into the alt-egg space and is a clear market leader today. They’ve sold over 100 million alt-eggs as of 2021 and closed a $200 million funding round the same year. Their liquid egg substitute — made from mung bean protein — is designed to look and act like the ‘real deal,’ and can be used in the same ways as regular eggs (e.g. scrambled, fried, used for baking, etc.).

Spero Foods, another US-based market leader specializing in biotech and big data approaches to alternative proteins, launched their liquid egg substitute, Scramblit, in 2018. The ‘superfood’ liquid egg mix can be used to make omelets, scrambled eggs, and baked goods, and is made from squash and pumpkin seeds; it also definitely packs a punch: Scramblit contains 3x more protein, 8x more iron, 400x more fiber, and 2x more omega-3s than chicken eggs.

Other companies, like Finnish-based Onego Bio focus on more niche products, creating alternative egg-whites for the confectionary and baking industry from ‘bioalbumen,’ their proprietary chicken-free, fungi-based egg white protein; earlier this year, the company closed an $11.1 million USD seed round, and hope to be fully operational by 2023.

Pros vs. Cons

Like everything else, the alternative egg space comes with the good and the not-so good. Below are some of the main pros and cons of alt-eggs:

Pros:

Sustainability (especially compared with factory-farmed chicken);
Ethics (no chickens harmed in the process!);
Consumer safety (no risk of avian flu, salmonella, or other issues that have been known to keep wary consumers away from ‘real’ eggs);
Health (safe for consumers allergic to eggs, or those looking for low-calorie and low-cholesterol diets);
Stable pricing (this is a particular concern for commercial consumers, because chicken egg prices experience bigger seasonal fluctuations).

Cons:

Imitating both flavor and function is a challenge (including texture, look, nutritional values, and cooking functions like binding, fluffing, rising, etc.);
Consumer buy-in may be difficult (especially relevant for high-tech approaches, where consumers may be more reluctant to eat lab-hatched eggs);
Changing lifestyles is a challenge (chicken eggs are a fan favorite and a staple in most non-vegan kitchens, and, as we all know, old habits die hard, especially when the alternatives aren’t yet able to exactly recreate the full experience).

Conclusions

Overall, with a growing number of plant-based foodies globally and an ever-expanding group of forward-thinking founders rising to the challenge, it looks like alt-eggs are here to stay. Although consumer buy-in may be tough at first, perhaps the alt-egg industry may just have something for everyone: for the more reluctant foodies out there, a plethora of low-tech, plant-based options made with clean, ‘good for you’ ingredients may offer an easy transition into the world of alternative eggs; more adventurous food(tech)ies, on the other hand, might be eager to dive into biotech-hatched ‘eggs’ right away.

Moreover, consumer buy-in might be somewhat easier on the B2B market, and commercial consumers — already used to buying large quantities of egg mix, emulsifiers, egg whites, or other egg-products — may be the first to get on board. Firstly, worry-free storage goes a long way for chefs and restauranteurs that can rest easy knowing that there is no risk of their alt-eggs giving salmonella to a restaurant-full of brunch-goers. Secondly, the price stability of alt-eggs (compared with the seasonally-fluctuating ‘real deal’), make them particularly attractive for businesses and commercial customers. And, finally, for the growing number of vegan and plant-based restaurants out there, alt-eggs really make life a lot easier and simpler, meaning that chefs can recreate fan-favorite dishes without having to get too creative on their own when trying to come up with an alternative for the versatile, ubiquitous egg.

Ultimately, although it seems that no one company has fully ‘cracked’ the code of replicating the egg experience in its entirety, it’s certainly not for lack of trying. The growing number of foodtech founders and innovators striving to make alt-eggs a reality is just as promising as the growing number of plant-based foodies, and, although the alt-egg space hasn’t yet recreated the egg exactly, we can hope that, with such interest in the space, (just-like-chicken-)chicken-free eggs might just become a reality, sooner rather than later.