Quantum Flowers & Foods Succeeds in Demonstration of Lactobacillus Development via Neutron‑Beam Breeding.
2025.07.29A major step toward practical application of Lactobacillus development using “Neutron Breeding®.” Advancing solutions to social challenges such as sustainable food supply and productivity gains.
July 29, 2025, 10:00 (JST)
Company: Quantum Flowers & Foods Co., Ltd. (QFF)
Head Office: Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
Representative: Norio Kikuchi, CEO
Quantum Flowers & Foods Co., Ltd. (head office: Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture; CEO: Hiroo Kikuchi; hereinafter “QFF”), which provides an ultra‑fast cultivar improvement service leveraging quantum biotechnology known as “Neutron Breeding®” (Note 1), announces the completion of Phase 1 of its project selected under Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) “Food Tech Business Demonstration Program” (FY2023–FY2024), Adoption No. 17: “Lactobacillus Development Service Using Neutron‑beam Breeding Technology.” In this demonstration, QFF successfully introduced mutations into food‑use microorganisms (Lactobacillus) and also solved challenges in transport, marking substantial progress toward realizing a new breeding service for Lactobacillus.
Neutron Breeding® is also ideal for breeding microorganisms such as Lactobacillus.
Key Results
- Irradiated two Lactobacillus lineages with neutron beams and confirmed morphological mutations such as colony morphology, color, and chain formation.
- Resolved challenges encountered during transportation and verified practicality.
- Established a plan to proceed—now that mutation introduction has succeeded—to Phase 2 (selection of beneficial strains to enhance acid tolerance, gut‑health effects, etc.) and Phase 3 (creation of strains for allergy mitigation and plant‑based dairy alternatives).
For inquiries about Lactobacillus development, please contact the representative listed at the end of this release.・
Microscopic image of Lactobacillus.
Next Steps
Phase 2 (FY2025)
• Functional evaluation of mutant strains (acid tolerance, proliferation, gut‑health effects, etc.).
• Out‑licensing of material strains for food manufacturers.
• Establish mass‑production systems and automated evaluation pipelines.
• Create new strains for allergy mitigation and for plant‑based dairy products.
• Verify methods for transporting dried bacterial cells and apply findings to Foods with Function Claims (Japan).
Leveraging our expertise in neutron‑beam irradiation and analysis, QFF will build a platform that realizes rapid performance enhancement of food‑use microorganisms, and will make every effort to play a key role in the FoodTech business domain.
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Background
“Lactobacillus” is essential to human health, and there is strong demand for developing new functions and improving productivity—requirements that call for efficient improvement methods. However, because microorganisms like Lactobacillus exist in solution, conventional radiation breeding methods such as gamma rays, heavy‑ion beams, and ultraviolet irradiation have struggled to achieve desired development outcomes.
QFF’s Neutron Breeding®, the world’s first to be commercially implemented (Note 2), can deliver irradiation energy uniformly even to microorganisms suspended in liquid and achieves exceptionally high mutation rates—approximately 15 to 300 times higher than conventional techniques. This enables efficient generation of mutant strains in microorganisms.
Through this demonstration, we confirmed that beneficial mutations can be introduced into prokaryotes (Lactobacillus) with unprecedented speed and precision, giving momentum to the creation of new materials for the health‑oriented foods and plant‑based markets.
Learn more about microbial breeding with neutron beams: https://qff.jp/en/quantum_tec/
Project Overview
Program: Food Tech Business Demonstration Program (FY2023–FY2024)
Adoption No.: 17
Theme: Lactobacillus Development Service Using Neutron‑beam Breeding Technology
Demonstration Period: FY2024
Case Study Collection: https://www.maff.go.jp/j/shokusan/sosyutu/attach/pdf/index-120.pdf (see pp. 36–37)
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Inquires
Quantum Flowers & Foods Co., Ltd.
Business Solutions Dept.: Shunsuke Naito
E-mail: shunsuke.naito@qff.jp Tel: 03-6661-1611
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Company Overview
[Head Office / Mito Office] 2-101 Le Rêve Mikawa, 2563-77 Mikawa‑chō, Mito‑shi, Ibaraki, Japan
Note 1: “5‑Minute Guide to Speedy Breeding” (QFF official site): https://qff.jp/en/quantum_tec/
Note 2: See “Notes” in Company Overview above.
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Unofficial English translation of a Japanese press release published on PR TIMES. For official terms, please refer to the original Japanese text.
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