US startup C16 Biosciences has launched its first food ingredient, a precision-fermented cocoa butter, while expanding its portfolio of yeast-derived fats for the beauty industry.
After making waves in the beauty and personal care space with its sustainable palm oil alternatives, C16 Biosciences has now entered the food world with its first edible lipid.
The New York-based biotech firm has created a precision-fermented cocoa butter equivalent under its Palmless brand to solve three problems plaguing the chocolate industry: variable performance, supply shocks, and volatile prices.
The new ingredient is already being used by “multiple multinational food manufacturers” for product development. “Fermentation has long played a critical role in developing the flavour precursors in chocolate,” said co-founder and CEO Shara Ticku. “Now it’s a critical step in developing sensorial performance and functionality, too.”
Additionally, C16 Biosciences has unveiled three new ingredients for the beauty industry, joining its Torula Oil innovation, which has already been commercialised as a palm oil substitute in dozens of products, including from Tower 28 Beauty, Estée Lauder, and Haeckels.
Precision fermentation solves cocoa butter’s supply and functional constraints
C16 Biosciences’ proprietary biomanufacturing platform leverages naturally occurring microorganisms to unlock novel actives with high purity that can be used across personal care, home care, and food and nutrition applications.
It uses aerobic precision fermentation to create its sustainable fats, putting a naturally oleaginous parent strain through process condition optimisation and adaptive lab evolution to ensure extremely efficient lipid production.
Cocoa butter is its latest innovation. It’s an essential component found in all types of chocolate, but, the startup argues, is “notoriously inconsistent” both supply-wise and functionally.
Cocoa prices are through the roof and will continue to rise this year, as extreme weather events wipe out harvests and push a third of the world’s cocoa trees towards extinction. That has jeopardised cocoa butter stocks too, with the cost of this fat reportedly rising sixfold in 2025.
From a product development perspective, cocoa butter behaves differently depending on the beans’ origin, growing season, and harvest. That creates challenges like tempering curves (which require constant recalibration), chocolate bloom (which compromises shelf life and appearance), and structural defects that cause cracking and breaking during production.
C16 Biosciences says precision fermentation eliminates the variability problem at its source. Tighter triglyceride distribution yields a more predictable solid fat curve, and processing ease provides manufacturers with a wider tempering window and a lower risk of fat bloom. Moreover, because it isn’t dependent on cocoa farming, it ensures stable supply and costs.
“Cocoa butter is fundamental in making chocolate a luxurious experience: it’s responsible for the perfect snap on the first bite, the reason chocolate melts exactly at body temperature, and it leaves [a] smooth aftertaste,” said Ticku.
“We brought all those sensorial properties to life, but from fermentation rather than industrial agriculture. Our process delivers products more consistently and more on-spec to the needs of chocolate makers.”
Several other companies are working on sustainable fats to replace cocoa butter. Planet A Foods, Terra Oleo, and Sun Bear Biofuture are all also using precision fermentation, Smey is tapping into AI and yeast fermentation, and Abydos Bioscience is leveraging oleaginous bacteria. Celleste Bio has opted for plant cell culture tech, and its innovation has been used in milk chocolate bars by Mondelēz International.
C16 Biosciences producing hundreds of tonnes of fermented fats a year
The company’s three new beauty and personal care ingredients target a wide array of functions. TorulaSilk, available in multiple grades, has a broad fatty acid profile (spanning C8 to C24) and combines the sensorial properties of lightweight lipids with the conditioning benefits of heavier triglycerides. It provides exceptional spreadability, fast absorption, and a dry-touch finish, and also functions as an alternative for D5/D6 silicones.
Torula Butter provides rich conditioning and minimises the waxiness, drag and scent of conventional butters. It melts at skin temperature for a soft application, and contains naturally occurring sterols that support the skin barrier and provide essential structure to solid, semi-solid, and liquid products.
Finally, Torula Carotenoid Complex builds on the robust antioxidant profile of the Palmless platform to harness the power of torulene, torularhodin, and beta-carotene. These are fungal-specific carotenoids that defend against oxidative degradation and replenish vital skin molecules depleted by UV exposure and environmental stress.
“Torula Oil has become a go-to ingredient for formulators across skincare, suncare, bodycare, and colour cosmetics,” said C16 Biosciences’s co-founder and COO, David Heller. “These three new ingredients provide those same brands a full biotechnology-derived toolkit, from high-potency actives to functional emollients and butters.”
He added: “C16 now offers a multi-ingredient portfolio commercially that manufacturers can formulate with today. Palmless is not a single ingredient story. We’ve scaled the technology, launched ingredients, and now we’re expanding that portfolio to further drive our growth and impact.”
The company’s ingredients are being produced in 50,000-litre fermentation tanks in its New York facility, which enables it to churn out hundreds of tonnes of lipids each year. That capacity is “orders of magnitude above” that of other precision fermentation firms operating across food and beauty.
These include Savor, which has launched four carbon-derived fats for use across skincare, haircare, over-the-counter formulations, and therapeutic care; Clean Food Group and Äio, both of which leverage industry waste and yeast fermentation for palm oil alternatives; and Melt&Marble, a precision fermentation startup whose ingredient has been cleared for sale in the global personal care market.
