The UAE has set an ambitious goal under its National Food Security Strategy 2051—to become the world's most food-secure nation by 2051. For decades, the Gulf nation has depended heavily on imported food. To reduce that dependence, it is investing in technologies that can strengthen food security, diversify its economy and make food production more sustainable.
One of the technologies at the heart of this effort is precision fermentation.
What is precision fermentation?
Precision fermentation is almost like the philosopher's stone—not because it magically turns lead into gold, but because it transforms simple ingredients such as sugar, with the help of engineered microbes, into products of immense value. These include insulin, dairy proteins, egg proteins and other high-value biomolecules. Unlike the mythical alchemy of old, however, this transformation is rooted in modern biology and biotechnology.
Unlike traditional fermentation—which uses microbes to make foods such as yogurt, beer and bread—or biomass fermentation, where the microbes themselves become the final product, precision fermentation instructs microbes to produce one specific ingredient. The technology is not new. Recombinant insulin, first produced in the early 1980s by inserting the human insulin gene into E. coli bacteria, is one of its earliest success stories. However, the term "precision fermentation" has gained popularity only in recent years as the technology has expanded into food production.
Supporters say precision fermentation could dramatically reduce the land and water needed to produce food. It can also lower greenhouse gas emissions, make food production less vulnerable to climate change, and allow countries to produce key food ingredients locally instead of importing them.
Today, precision fermentation is already being used to produce animal-free dairy proteins such as casein and whey, egg proteins, collagen, gelatin, vitamins, sweeteners, cocoa flavour molecules, human milk oligosaccharides, and even alternative fats and oils.
UAE's big bet
The UAE, especially Abu Dhabi, is positioning itself as a regional hub for precision fermentation and alternative proteins.
In 2022, US-Australian food-tech company Change Foods partnered with KEZAD Group (Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi) to develop animal-free dairy products using precision fermentation. In 2024, Abu Dhabi-based Novel Foods Group announced the first phase of a nearly $500 million biotechnology production hub. The facility will focus on producing brazzein, a naturally occurring sweet protein from a West African plant that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar but contains no calories.
A year later, precision fermentation companies Vivici and The Every Company signed agreements with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to explore a shared industrial-scale facility with a production capacity of around four million litres. Vivici specialises in animal-free whey proteins, while The Every Company produces animal-free egg proteins.
Most of these projects are still in the planning or early development stage, which is typical for large biotechnology investments. But together they signal the UAE's intent to move beyond importing food and become a global centre for producing the next generation of sustainable food ingredients.
The Emirati government is also working to make it easier for such products to reach the market. The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), the Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), and ADIO are developing a streamlined regulatory framework for novel foods, including precision fermentation products and cultivated proteins.
