Recombinant chymosin (first genetically engineered food additive)
Quimosina recombinante (primer aditivo alimentario obtenido por ingeniería genética)
- Date
- 1990 · confidence high
- Place
- Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut, United States
- Credited to
- Pfizer (Chy-Max); Teruhiko Beppu's group (University of Tokyo, 1982)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Chymosin, the calf stomach rennet enzyme that clots milk, was cloned and expressed in bacteria and fungi. In 1990 the FDA approved Pfizer's recombinant chymosin, the first genetically engineered product in food, and it now clots most of the world's cheese.
Several groups cloned prochymosin between 1978 and 1982 (Collaborative Research, Genex, Beppu in Tokyo, Genencor); FDA clearance was in March 1990 for Pfizer's E. coli K-12 product, and Chr. Hansen (Denmark) marketed one soon after with Aspergillus. The place chosen is that of the approval.
What it led to
- recombinant rennet for cheese with less dependence on calf rennet
- vegetarian-suitable cheese with kosher and halal certification
- model for precision-fermentation food enzymes