Ingredion, Shiru Partnership Signals Faster Push Toward AI-Driven Functional Protein Discovery

Ingredion, an ingredient solutions provider, is expanding its technology-led approach to ingredient innovation through a new partnership with Shiru, a company known for using artificial intelligence to identify functional proteins from natural sources. The collaboration is aimed at accelerating the discovery and commercialization of novel functional proteins for use across food, beverage, supplements, and specialized nutrition.

The agreement pairs Shiru’s AI-based discovery platform with Ingredion’s formulation and commercialization capabilities. According to the announcement,¹ the companies will jointly pursue a targeted research and development program focused in part on next-generation prebiotics derived from natural sources, with an emphasis on ingredients that may support microbiome health.

Shiru said its platform contains more than 77 million catalogued and analyzed natural protein sequences, which can be screened to identify candidates with specific functional properties.

This move reflects a broader shift in how ingredient suppliers are approaching early-stage discovery. Rather than relying primarily on conventional screening or trial-and-error formulation work, companies are increasingly investing in tools that can narrow ingredient candidates earlier in the innovation process and potentially reduce the time required to move from concept to commercial application. The partnership, Ingredion notes, is part of a strategy to help food and nutrition companies innovate more quickly as demand grows for ingredients that are both evidence-based and scalable.

AI in Functional Protein Discovery Gains Ground

The Shiru collaboration centers on functional proteins, an area drawing interest as brands look for differentiated solutions that can deliver benefits beyond basic nutrition. Per the announcement, the companies said the initial work will focus on prebiotic ingredients sourced from natural materials. That focus aligns with continuing industry interest in gut health, as manufacturers seek ingredients that can support digestive wellness while still meeting expectations around taste, texture, label appeal, and manufacturability.

Shiru’s platform is designed to identify proteins with desired performance traits more rapidly than traditional discovery models, condensing work that historically may have taken years into a period of months. Ingredion, for its part, brings application expertise, scale, and access to a large global customer base. The companies said ingredients emerging from the collaboration would have a path to Ingredion’s more than 18,000 customers in 120 countries.

“As consumer expectations rise, food companies need new ways to move faster and innovate smarter,” said Michael Leonard, chief innovation officer at Ingredion. “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 partnership also suggests that AI-enabled discovery is moving beyond a proof-of-concept phase and into more direct commercial partnerships. Shiru previously commercialized ingredients developed through its platform, including uPro and OleoPro, and the Ingredion deal appears intended to extend that model into broader nutrition categories.

Microbiome Science Is Becoming Part of Upstream R&D

The Shiru partnership is also unfolding alongside another Ingredion collaboration tied to gut health science. A separate press release delivered via email² revealed that Ingredion is also working with Holobiome, a company focused on understanding how ingredients interact with the gut microbiome. According to that report, Holobiome’s platform draws on profiles from more than 90,000 individuals,³ more than 2 million gut bacterial genomes, microbiome health models, a bacterial strain bank, and a human gut simulator to evaluate ingredient behavior in the gut.

“Ingredion’s partnership with Holobiome is helping to deepen our scientific understanding of how ingredients may interact with the gut microbiome,” commented Philip Strandwitz, CEO and founder, Holobiome’s founder and CEO. “This is an essential step to transition to a future in which nutrition can be broadly used to improve human health through the microbiome, and transition to global consumer expectations for ‘intentional’ and ‘made-for-me’ nutrition.”

That relationship appears to complement the Shiru deal by helping Ingredion determine which ingredients are worth deeper R&D investment before moving on to more resource-intensive development stages. Reported goals include forming earlier evidence-informed hypotheses, prioritizing promising ingredients and food matrices, and guiding which concepts may warrant human testing.

For formulators, that may be especially relevant in categories such as digestive health, metabolic health, and personalized nutrition, where expectations for validation continue to increase.

References

1. Ingredion and Shiru Announce Partnership to Accelerate AI-Powered Functional Protein Discovery. GlobeNewswire. Published March 18, 2026. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/03/18/3258373/0/en/ingredion-and-shiru-announce-partnership-to-accelerate-ai-powered-functional-protein-discovery.html

2. How Ingredion and Holobiome Are Reshaping Ingredient Discovery. GlobeNewswire. Published March 19, 2026. Accessed March 23, 2026. Press release delivered via email.

3. Zimerman S. Ingredion Leverages AI to Advance Ingredient Discovery. Food Dive. Published March 18, 2026. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.fooddive.com/news/ingredion-holobiome-shiru-ai-partnership-ingredient-gut-health-fiber/815008/