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King of Prussia firm strikes national deal to sell plant-based egg substitute

Renmatix, based in King of Prussia, has found a global distributor for its Simple Cellulose vegan egg substitute.

Renmatix CEO Mike Hamilton with wood to be turned to sugars.
Renmatix CEO Mike Hamilton with wood to be turned to sugars.Read moreLAURENCE KESTERSON / Staff Photographer

Renmatix, the King of Prussia bio ingredient developer, says it has signed a deal to distribute Simple Cellulose, a plant-based egg substitute, through The Ingredient House, a food additive supplier to U.S. food and beverage manufacturers.

Renmatix and North Carolina-based Ingredient House “see the potential to replace eggs in baked goods by incorporating Simple Cellulose,” which they say can be marketed as a vegan egg substitute at “up to 50 percent” less cost than alternative products, and long shelf life making it attractive for “gluten-free and vegan” breads, muffins, cookies and doughnuts, the companies said in a joint statement.

Renmatix debuted Simple Cellulose at the International Food Technologists expo in Chicago last summer and began testing recipes with bakers and searching for distributors. “Future targets include soups and sauces, meat and dairy systems, and many other food ingredient applications," the companies added.

Consumers' growing taste for so-called “clean-label" processed foods, which typically lack meat, wheat gluten or other common ingredients, has increased interest in plant-based ingredients, like the industrial sugars Renmatix has developed as building blocks for food, fuel and plastic-like materials, said Mike Hamilton, the former Rohm and Haas executive who has led Renmatix since its founding in 2012, with partners including former Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker.

With Simple Cellulose, “our early market efforts will focus on leading bakery manufacturers,” said Ingredient House chief executive Graham Hall. He called Simple Cellulose “a unique product” and “a true breakthrough” and pledged to push it to the company’s big bakery clients.

Renmatix’s Plantrose develops ways to convert agricultural waste and other plant products into industrial materials at a lab in Georgia and other sites. Backed by French oil giant Total S.A., German chemical giant BASF, Silicon Valley’s Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, among other investors, the company initially focused on biofuels, but added bioplastics and other applications as energy prices fell in the mid-2010s.

Ingredient House, formed in 2006 with principals in the U.S., China and Europe, says it has clients in 20 countries.