An egg a day…

August 25, 2021

For decades, eggs have been much maligned by health experts, who have warned that they are high in dietary cholesterol which will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and strokes.

If you would like to eat all the eggs you want without the fat and cholesterol, look no further!

Dr Sherman HO (Pharmacy 2011 and 2016) co-founded food technology start-up Hoow Foods Pte Ltd in 2018 to reduce the socioeconomic impacts of chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity through food. Hoow Foods started with a premium low calorie ice cream, Callery’s, which was successfully rolled out to consumers within six months.

Inspired by this, Sherman decided to extend his prototyping methodology to other foods. We catch up with Sherman to discuss his latest venture – HEGG, a plant-based substitute for eggs which is cholesterol-free.

Share your journey from NUS to Hoow Foods.

After my PhD in the NUS Department of Pharmacy, I joined Abbott as a product development scientist. I wanted to take on more managerial roles while maintaining a connection to healthcare, and moved on to such a role in a local biotechnology company Tessa Therapeutics company before deciding to venture out on my own.

What is leading-edge about your start-up?

We augment the speed of reformulating foods without compromising on their taste, texture and nutritional outcomes with our proprietary Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML)-supported platform, called REGENESYS. It is able to modify the five pillars of the nutritional panel (Calories, Sugar, Fat, Protein, Fibre) and formulate products into plant-based versions.

Tell us about HEGG.

HEGG is an egg substitute that demonstrates versatility across multiple culinary applications and convenience in a dry, powdered format. It lends itself well to baking, even in difficult recipes such as Quiche Lorraine and tiramisu, and also fries well into an omelette, especially Chinese-style omelette with crispy edges.

HEGG is made of a proprietary mix of legume proteins, carefully curated for their unique egg-like properties, along with supporting ingredients engineered to extend its breadth of use. HEGG was made possible with REGENESYS.

How is HEGG different from eggs?

We envisioned an egg substitute that would provide significant protein without the cholesterol, fat and allergies associated with eggs. HEGG stands out with its compact powder format. A tray of 10 eggs is now compressed into two small sachets of powder, with a long shelf life.

What challenges do you face and how do you overcome them?

Our key challenge is to effectively market a novel product to consumers. How can we persuade them to try it? This calls for a more creative way of thinking about the problem from multiple perspectives. I attribute my ability to take a wider perspective of food products to my science education, which taught me to think out-of-the-box.

Co-founders of Hoow Foods (left to right): Dr Sherman Ho (Chief Technology Officer), Yau Png (Chief Executive Officer) and Wang Qun Xiong (Director of Strategy and Finance).

What’s next?

We plan to further develop our REGENESYS platform for adoption by industry, to assist them in product development especially at a time where health and food sustainability are key concern. We would also like to commercialise some of our own products under our own brands.