Animal protein alternatives explored

ALTERNATIVE protein sources, which are not only healthful but also good for the environment, are increasingly gaining attention as world food experts emphasise the need for increased meat supply to match expanding population. 

Data from the latest series of interviews from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) FutureFood 2050, which explores how science and technology can help feed the world’s projected 9 billion-plus people by 2050, indicate replacing and/or supplementing traditional animal protein with alternatives requiring drastically lower levels of water, feed, energy, and land is more sustainable and may result in healthier proteins.

Seeds from the sweet blue lupine, a plant that thrives in different climates, are a sustainable source of protein that is free of cholesterol, dairy and gluten. It may be an alternative to soy

Cricket flour and lab-grown animal muscle fibre, which might have the “ick” factor, are just a couple of possible solutions that could address meat sustainability concerns.  Pioneering protein researchers discussed with FutureFood 2050 possible technology-based innovations.

Ethan Brown talked about how plant proteins processed to chemically re-create the structure of meat could be an option in “Good Chemistry: Using Plant-Based proteins to ‘Copy’ Meat.” Mr Brown is the founder of California-based Beyond Meat, which processes plant proteins into meat.

Daniel Imrie-Situnayake, CEO of Tiny Farms, discussed cricket production in “U.S. Cricket Farming Scales Up.”

Tiny Farms is a startup dedicated to developing technology for industrial-scale insect farming.

Stephanie Mittermaier, a German food technology researcher, looked into the big potential for protein from sweet blue lupine seeds as an alternative to soy protein.

Dutch physiologist Mark Post talked about the world’s first in vitro burger made from meat grown in a lab.

Meanwhile, entrepreneurial young entomologist Harman Singh Johar sees insect protein as a near-perfect famine relief product.

Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) indicate 470 million tons of annual meat production, an increase of more than 200 million tons from current annual levels, will be needed to feed the world’s population by 2050.

“People are finally starting to realise that from a climate perspective, it’s [producing animal protein] the equivalent of driving a Hummer. It’s a gratuitous use of emissions. To give you an example, the pea protein we use to create our beef? It emits one-tenth of the emissions that grass-fed beef emits. It’s incredible from an emissions perspective,” said Mr. Brown, a long-time vegan who founded Beyond Meat to develop meats products that are “rebuilt” from plant proteins.