SAN FRANCISCO — Alternative proteins developer Provenance Bio has created an animal-free gelatin. The company said it used its protein expression platform to make the biomimetic proteins.

“Gelatin represents a large and growing market,” said Michalyn Andrews, chief executive officer. “We were inspired to make an animal-free gelatin to provide a sustainable and humane solution for this material, while solving major concerns with animal-derived gelatins that suffer from animal-borne illness, batch-to-batch variability, and price fluctuations.

“Provenance collagens, which are entirely animal-free, also support the growing demand for vegan alternatives to gelatin products with superior performance.”

The initial ingredients mimic bovine collagens, but the company said it is using a library of collagen variants for tailored applications. In addition to offering a sustainability benefit due to a reduced carbon footprint compared to conventional gelatins, the company also is targeting achieving price parity.

“The platform will produce animal-free gelatin at attractive price points,” Ms. Andrews said. “When we began our work at Provenance, there was no way to make the proteins we needed at scale. We took it upon ourselves to redesign a new chassis for protein production that would revolutionize our ability to deliver functional proteins at price parity with those sourced from animals. While we still have a road ahead of us, to date, we’ve been able to increase our own collagen strain efficiencies by 100x.”