Egg prices have been unstable for three consecutive years, with repeated avian flu outbreaks making supply difficult to forecast. At the same time, demand for cleaner labels is pushing manufacturers to review ingredients like E-471 (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids) and ask whether they still need to be there. The challenge is finding alternatives that perform reliably outside controlled conditions.

Spanish biotechnology company MOA Foodtech and Espiga I+D, a cereal-focused applied research centre in Navarra, have formalised a partnership to work on exactly that. Their Bakery Innovation Alliance will test and validate the use of MOA Q5, a fermentation-derived yeast-based ingredient, as an egg replacer, emulsifier and E-471 substitute in bakery and pastry applications.

MOA Q5 is produced through biomass fermentation of starch-rich industrial byproducts, developed with support from MOA’s in-house AI computational platform, Albatros. It is labelled simply as “yeast,” requires no Novel Food classification under current European regulation and is non-GMO. MOA reports validation across bakery, pastry and pasta categories. (Note: MOA Q5 contains gluten and allergen labelling requirements apply per formulation and target market.)

Espiga I+D, which began operating in mid-2025 in Sarriguren, Navarra, is structured specifically for this kind of applied work. Its site runs from laboratory scale through to semi-industrial production, with a Bühler teaching mill capable of processing more than 14 tonnes of flour per day, industrial bakery lines with lamination and rounding technologies and dedicated workshops for bakery, pastry, pasta and plant-based beverage applications. That infrastructure means the centre can reproduce real production conditions, adjust them experimentally and validate results before any transfer to an industrial site.

Through the alliance, manufacturers wanting to test egg reduction or E-471 removal will be able to access ingredient samples, pilot formulations and application support. The aim is to give companies a direct route to technical validation under production-representative conditions rather than lab-only trials.

Bosco Emparanza, CEO of MOA Foodtech, said the partnership was designed to lower the barrier to adoption: “By partnering with Espiga I+D, we make it easier for manufacturers to validate and adopt next-generation fermentation ingredients.”

Maite Cabodevilla, Head of New Developments and Applications at Espiga I+D, framed the collaboration around longer-term sector readiness: “These new solutions will let the sector adapt to market demands and get ahead of them.”

MOA Foodtech has raised more than €7 million to date, backed by the European Innovation Council and a combination of corporate and venture capital investors.