Ingredion teams up with Shiru to fast-track AI-discovered proteins for next-gen nutrition

Ingredion and Shiru have announced a global research and development collaboration aimed at accelerating the discovery and commercialization of functional proteins, combining artificial intelligence with large-scale ingredient manufacturing capabilities.

• Ingredion and Shiru announced a global R&D collaboration to accelerate discovery and commercialization of functional proteins using AI and large-scale formulation expertise.

• The partnership focused on developing next-generation prebiotics derived from natural sources to support microbiome health across food, beverage and nutrition applications.

• Ingredients developed through the collaboration have been expected to reach Ingredion’s network of more than 18,000 customers across 120 countries.

The partnership brings together Shiru’s AI-powered discovery platform and Ingredion’s global reach in ingredient formulation and commercialization. At its core is a shared goal to shorten the time it takes to identify, develop and bring new functional proteins to market, particularly those targeting gut health.

Shiru’s proprietary platform, described as the industry’s broadest searchable database of functional protein ingredients, has catalogued and analyzed more than 77 million natural protein sequences. By using machine learning to map protein functionality, the company has been able to identify candidates for specific applications in a fraction of the time required by traditional R&D methods.

Dr Jasmin Hume, Founder & CEO of Shiru, said the technology had fundamentally changed how ingredient discovery is approached. “We have broken the mold on how ingredient discovery is done,” she said. “Disrupting the speed at which we can identify high-performance natural proteins has opened the floodgates for healthy, targeted nutrition. What once took a team of 50 scientists a decade and a healthy dose of serendipity, we can now do strategically and efficiently in months. Pairing that capability with Ingredion's scale and customer relationships creates a direct path from discovery to market.”

The collaboration has been centered on the development of next-generation prebiotics derived from natural sources. These ingredients are intended to support healthier microbiomes, an area of increasing interest as research continues to link gut health with immunity, metabolic function and cognitive performance.

As scientific understanding of the microbiome has expanded, consumer packaged goods companies have faced growing pressure to reformulate products with ingredients that are both scientifically credible and scalable. The companies said the partnership had been designed to address this challenge by combining discovery speed with commercial readiness.

Ingredion’s role in the collaboration has focused on formulation expertise, application development and global distribution. With more than 18,000 customers across 120 countries, the company has provided a pathway for newly discovered ingredients to reach market at scale.

Michael Leonard, Chief Innovation Officer at Ingredion, said the collaboration reflected changing expectations across the food industry. “As consumer expectations rise, food companies need new ways to move faster and innovate smarter,” he said. “Shiru helps us discover better natural ingredients more quickly so we can help our customers deliver new products at a pace the market expects.”

The announcement followed Shiru’s recent commercial progress, including the launch of two AI-discovered ingredients, uPro and OleoPro, which have already entered the market for use in food and personal care applications. The collaboration with Ingredion has been expected to build on that momentum by extending the reach and application of similar discoveries.

For Ingredion, the partnership aligned with its broader strategy to expand its Texture and Healthful Solutions portfolio through external innovation. The company, headquartered near Chicago, reported annual net sales of approximately US$7.2 billion in 2025 and has continued to invest in new technologies to meet evolving consumer demands.

Shiru, based in Berkeley, California, has gained recognition for its approach to ingredient discovery, including being named a TIME Best Invention of 2024. Its platform, Flourish, has been designed to map protein performance across a wide range of applications, from food and beverage to agriculture and advanced materials.

By combining AI-driven discovery with established manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, the two companies have aimed to bridge a longstanding gap between innovation and commercialization in the ingredient sector. Traditional protein discovery has often been constrained by time, cost and limited screening capabilities, factors that have slowed the introduction of new functional ingredients.

The collaboration has been structured to address those limitations directly, enabling a more targeted approach to identifying proteins with specific functional and nutritional properties. In doing so, Ingredion and Shiru have sought to respond to a market increasingly defined by demand for clean-label, high-performance and scientifically validated ingredients.

While the focus has been on prebiotics and microbiome health, the companies indicated that the underlying platform and partnership model could support a broader pipeline of functional ingredients over time.