Food Protein Safety Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Food protein safety and characterization patents: mapping digestibility, allergenicity and impurity-screening claims
Concentrated but not locked. the top 5 assignees hold 28.7% of all 1,578 records, and the top 10 hold 41.9% — a real lead, not a monopoly. Filings rose from 70 in 2017 to a peak of 89 in 2022, then declined across the last complete three-year window on record: 77 in 2021 to 41 in 2024, a 47% fall. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a continuation of that decline.
- 1NOVOZYMES AS186
- 2AXCELLA HEALTH INC81
- 3DSM IP ASSETS BV68
- 4PRAIRIE AQUA TECH LLC68
- 5MYCOTECHNOLOGY INC50
See the full food protein safety and characterization analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Frequently asked questions
Who holds the most patents in food protein safety and characterization?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 186 records, more than triple the fifth-place holder at 50. The top 5 assignees combined account for 28.7% of all 1,578 records in scope, and the top 10 account for 41.9%. That said, recent-year filing data shows most of these leaders posted zero filings in the latest year, so leadership in this dataset reflects historical filing volume more than current expansion.
Is patent filing in this space growing or slowing down?
Filing peaked at 89 records in 2022 and then declined across the most recent complete three-year window, from 77 in 2021 to 41 in 2024 — a 47% drop. The 2025 and 2026 figures look lower still, but that is expected: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so those years are still filling in and should not be read as evidence of a continued decline.
What technology areas dominate this patent landscape?
Foods and non-alcoholic beverages (IPC class A23L) appears in 49.6% of the 1,578 records, the single most common classification. Proteins and food peptides (A23J) and animal feed (A23K) follow at 41.4% and 33.9% respectively, with microorganism and genetic engineering claims (C12N) close behind at 33.7%. Because records often carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to 100%.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Food Protein Safety and Characterization covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.