Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** dairy products are part of a…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** dairy products are part of a healthy diet for ~80% of americans. However they have a short shelf life due to microbial spoilage, making them expensive and restricting access to american citizens. In addition, consumers increasingly demand natural products and do not desire products with artificial chemical preservatives, which are extensively utilized in the dairy industry.funded by this USDA phase II sbir award, we will develop a novel ingredient, a biopreservative, that can extend the shelf life of dairy products, starting with soft cheeses such as cottage cheese. We will employ our unique technology platform to optimize and deliver this ingredient. In particular, this research and development will make use of our extensive biobank of tens of thousands of natural microbes, state of the art measurement technologies targeted towards microbial spoilage, computational/machine learning approaches to select combinations of natural microbes, and advanced bioprocess manufacturing technologies for producing natural ingredients.if successful, this product and the ultimate outcome of the award would decrease food waste and increase food manufacturer distribution and product accessibility, in particular to low income consumers. We project this ingredient could generate ingredient sales for our company of 1-3M/year in the cottage cheese market after launch and up to 43M/year in the broader dairy industry at product line maturity.