Consumer trends

Plant and biotech alternatives to replace egg protein

Research focuses on ingredients suitable for industrial food preparations

25 April 2025

3' min read

Demand is booming for alternatives to eggs, i.e., ingredients that can replace them in industrial food preparations, providing the same performance in terms of flavour, texture and functionality. But which, above all, are readily available at competitive and stable prices.

"In the last four months, requests from food companies for alternatives to eggs have doubled and we expect to triple the business in the future," says Emanuele Pizzigalli, chief research and innovation officer of Csm Ingredients Group, which offers a range of plant-based solutions to replace eggs without any noticeable effect on consumers and without having to redesign the production flow, but with a significant cost reduction (up to 55% for a brioche, for example).

It is the price factor that has driven demand in this dynamic field of biotechnology applications, even for hitherto unexplored uses such as the surface browning of croissants or thesauces that fill ready-made sandwiches. The avian flu that is decimating farms (in the USA in two years it has already infected over 168 million laying hens, say official USDA data), but also speculation by operators in the sector (which is being investigated by the US Department of Justice) have caused the price of eggs in the USA to soar, with peaks of 237%. In Italy, the dynamic is similar: in March, average prices were 29% higher than in the same month of 2024 and the slowdown in production, dictated by the spread of bird flu outbreaks in the EU, contributed to increasing the magnitude of the inflationary trend and fuelled concerns about supply, stress the analysts of Areté.

This is not a flare-up, but a scenario destined to have repercussions for a long time. And this makes it increasingly necessary to resort to products capable of replacing, partially or completely, the countless uses of eggs (or their components) in the food sector.

'The egg is the most complex product to mimic or replicate,' admits Pizzigalli. There are already several plant-based alternatives, mainly made from fibre (such as from flaxseed), protein (such as from pea, chickpea or wheat) and enzymes. But R&S is not standing still and functionalities are being improved every two to three years. Csm is working with Israeli start-up Polopo to develop a hybrid potato variety that during growth develops a protein substance identical to ovalbumin, while American Onego has used precision fermentation to obtain a protein powder that can replace egg in all its industrial uses.

These alternatives to eggs used as ingredients arrive in the shopping trolley not only through muffins and sauces, but also with the plant-based eggs on supermarket shelves. The first vegan hard-boiled 'egg' was patented in Italy in 2017 by four female students from the University of Udine, but the first product to hit the market, in 2022, was Just Egg, distributed in Europe thanks to the now-completed partnership with Eurovo. On sale today are vegetable alternatives to eggs in liquid form (such as Valsoia's Super Ovoveg soya-based) or powdered solutions, such as the Beamy brand, which can be used to replace eggs in sweet and savoury recipes, and is sold in chains such as Esselunga and Coop. "

"It is an inclusive product designed for all consumers, because it is plant-based and free of both gluten and allergens, being made from the yellow lentils of our supply chain," says Matteo Angri, R&D manager of MartinoRossi. The Cremona-based company (72 million euro revenues 2024) is ready to launch other alternatives to eggs, destined both for retail and the food industry, which is increasingly interested in these proposals both to reduce production costs and to satisfy the ethical and health sensibilities of consumers. Already 144 products declared 'egg-free' on the label are on sale in supermarkets and hypermarkets, generating a sell-out of EUR 24 million, the Immagino Observatory notes.