A healthy gut or digestive system is crucial to a healthy life, and medical experts believe that probiotics can play a significant role in preserving the delicate balance of bacteria in our bellies, boosting our immune systems and even improving our digestion.
Probiotics are live microorganisms such as bacteria and yeast that are naturally found in dairy products such as yogurt and cheese and fermented foods like pickles and kimchi, and can also be taken as a food supplement.
Millions of people around the world take probiotics as part of their health regimen. In fact, global market research firm Statista says the probiotics market was worth more than $58 billion worldwide in 2022, and is expected to reach more than $85 billion dollars by 2027.
And now Karmiel-based startup Wonder Veggies has come up with a unique way of making it even easier to consume these friendly bacteria – by putting them inside the fruit and vegetables that we consume every day.
The development of the technology involved is down to three people – CSO Prof. Oded Shoseyov, Director of Probiotics Prof. Betty Schwartz and Director of Technology Dr. Lilach Iasur-Kruh – Wonder Veggies CEO Danny Weiss tells NoCamels.
With a grant from Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, the three worked for four years to find a way to “marry” probiotics with fresh fruit and vegetables, which had until that point been impossible. The trio of scientists co-founded the company proper in early 2022, along with Weiss and Gadi Lesin, the former CEO of Israeli food giant Strauss Group.
The fruit and vegetables are infused with the probiotics through what Weiss calls a “simple spraying technique” applied during the growing stage, using a special liquid formulation devised by the company.
Alternatively, the same formula can be applied after harvest to pre-packaged produce such as leafy greens and salads.
Weiss says that Wonder Veggie fruit and vegetables are the best way to consume probiotics, with the highest bioavailability – the rate at which an active ingredient is absorbed into the body.
This, he says, is because Wonder Veggie’s proprietary method cultivates the probiotics within the tissue of the produce itself, something that offers a layer of protection from the acid in our stomachs that we use to digest our food.
And crucially, Weiss adds, neither dairy nor fermented foods can sufficiently protect the probiotics from the stomach acid that will dissolve them.
“Our own technology is enabling the probiotics to penetrate, propagate and survive inside the tissue of the fresh products, and the tissue provides a great protection against the acidity of the stomach, so we lose much less and more gets to our gut,” he explains.
And durability aside, Weiss says that getting your daily dose of probiotics through fruit and vegetables also removes other difficulties posed by dairy products, fermented foods and supplements.
According to Weiss, dairy foods exclude more than one third of people due to lactose intolerance or veganism; taking supplements is also a challenge for up to 30 percent of the population, without taking into account their cost; and fermented foods are an acquired taste that does not appeal to everyone.
“If you’re consuming your dairy products/fermented foods/food supplements and you like them, that’s fine,” he says.
“[But] fresh produce provides the ultimate delivery system with better bioavailability compared to all current consumption opportunities… no consumption-based limitation, best delivery system, highest bioavailability.”
The company is part of Yissum, the tech transfer company at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where both Shoseyov and Schwartz work, while Iasur-Kruh lectures at Braude College of Engineering in northern Israel.
As a nascent startup, Wonder Veggies received an investment of $3 million from Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of the largest venture capital companies in Israel and owned by seasoned entrepreneur Erel Margalit.
Weiss says the company is currently planning a new round of funding in the near future, aiming to scale up the technology in order to go commercial in 2025.
The first international market they target will be the US, he says, but before that will come a smaller launch in Israel.
“First of all, we’re Zionist – we like to do things here,” Weiss says, adding that while Israel is a small market, it is an excellent testbed where the company can work with local growers in order to further develop its technology.
In the US, the company has already been in talks with a number of retailers, with several expressing what Weiss says is huge interest in the probiotic-infused produce.
After launching the American market, the company plans a staggered expansion into Europe and Asia.
“[Food retailers] are looking for two things: better health for the consumers, because this is their charter, and innovation,” Weiss explains. “Right now, they’re seeing something which is ticking all the boxes.”
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