US Patent Issued to Cargill on Aug. 5 for "Thermolabile pigments for meat substitutes derived by mutation of the pigment of coral Echinopora forskaliana" (Minnesota Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,376,609, issued on Aug. 5, was assigned to Cargill Inc. (Wayzata, Minn.).

"Thermolabile pigments for meat substitutes derived by mutation of the pigment of coral Echinopora forskaliana" was invented by Hans H. Liao (Plymouth, Minn.), Tristan Lipkie (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Chris K. Miller (Andover, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed herein are pigment compositions for meat substitutes and meat substitutes including such pigment compositions. The pigment compositions include a thermolabile EforRed variant polypeptide. The pigment compositions provide a pink and/or red color to a meat substitute composition that transitions to a...