Il Granaio delle Idee and Ginkgo Bioworks Announce Strategic Collaboration to Optimize Sourdough Strains for Bakery Products

IGDI will leverage Ginkgo's Adaptive Laboratory Evolution technology to improve its sourdough starter culture product

PADUA, Italy and BOSTON, April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Il Granaio delle Idee (IGDI), an innovative international developer and provider of clean label baking ingredients, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced a new collaboration. IGDI has identified a new sourdough bakery strain that can improve the flavor and aroma profile of baked goods via its starter culture product, Pater^®. This collaboration will leverage Ginkgo's Adaptive Laboratory Evolution (ALE) technology to accelerate the growth rate of IGDI's selected strain.

Lactic acid bacteria helps give sourdough its distinctive taste. IGDI has used its proprietary technology to develop a product, Pater, that keeps lactic acid bacteria dispersed in flour, viable and stable over time. Pater is a shelf stable, dried baking mix that can be used to make sourdough en masse, enabling artisanal and industrial bakers to expand their potential offerings of sourdough-based products. Bakers can use Pater to enhance the flavor, fragrance, structure, and color of bread, improve digestibility, and extend bread freshness. Additionally, Pater can produce natural emulsifiers, and can thus lessen the reliance on chemical additives used widely in the baking industry.

IGDI would like to incorporate a new strain in Pater to further improve the flavor and aroma of baked goods. In order to grow this strain economically, IGDI will leverage Ginkgo's ALE technology as it seeks to evolve the strain towards a higher growth rate. Ginkgo uses ALE as a fast, powerful strain development tool that can adapt strains to industrially-relevant conditions without gene editing.

Federico Allamprese Manes Rossi, founder and CEO of Il Granaio delle Idee:
"Our collaboration with Ginkgo Bioworks represents a significant milestone in our entrepreneurial journey. We've watched Ginkgo excel in the food and nutrition space for years, and we couldn't be more excited to work with them. Ginkgo's impressive ALE technology shows promising potential to rapidly improve the growth rate of our strain, and distinguish Pater within the market. Together, we're enhancing product quality, empowering bakers with innovative solutions that elevate their craft, and preserving the expression of culture and identity in food."

Simon Trancart, Head of ALE at Ginkgo Bioworks:
"This collaboration underscores Ginkgo's commitment to innovation within the food and nutrition industry. We're thrilled to support Il Granaio delle Idee's vision by leveraging our strain optimization tools and powerful ALE technology to elevate their sourdough product to advanced levels of quality and efficiency. We welcome opportunities like this to help customers improve their products with Ginkgo's diverse strain optimization capabilities."

To learn more about Ginkgo's ALE technology, read an interview with Ginkgo's Head of ALE, Simon Trancart (here), and watch Ginkgo's Foundry Theory video, Fitter Microbes Faster with Automated ALE (here).

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.

About Il Granaio delle Idee

Il Granaio delle Idee, a company founded in 1998, stands out in the baking sector for its commitment to producing clean label products, made with natural raw materials and without the use of chemical additives. The company offers a wide range of products for bread making, pastry making and pizza making, including live lactic acid bacteria, complete mixes, improvers and yeasts, all formulated to guarantee superior quality products. Among its top product lines is Pater®, a unique blend based on live lactic acid bacteria and yeasts that gives baked goods an unparalleled taste and aroma. Pater® Pasticceria, designed for large leavened products and croissants, is also formulated with lactic acid bacteria and enzymes that guarantee an unmistakable melt-in-the-mouth texture. Il Granaio delle Idee is constantly committed to research and development of new solutions for the baking sector. Thanks to the use of cutting-edge enzymatic and live lactic fermentation technologies, the company is able to offer innovative products that improve the performance and final yield of baked goods. Il Granaio delle Idee, with its clean label philosophy and commitment to innovation, acts as a point of reference for all those seeking high quality products and services in the baking sector. For more information, visit www.ilgranaiodelleidee.com

Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vi) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (vii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs, (viii) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, and (ix) the product development or commercialization success of our customers. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 29, 2024 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
[email protected] 

GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
[email protected]

IL GRANAIO DELLE IDEE CONTACT:
Laura Scarso | Il Granaio delle Idee - [email protected]

Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.

SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks