Global partnerships drive sustainable protein industry
Supplying a growing global population with sufficient protein is an increasing challenge. Furthermore, current food production practices are often unsustainable and damaging to the environment. To address this, the EU-supported SMART PROTEIN(opens in new window) project set out to develop a new generation of sustainable high-protein plant-based food products, capable of appealing to a global market. From the beginning, the project was highly collaborative, bringing together partners from Europe and the U.S. as well as Israel and New Zealand.
Tapping transatlantic know-how
“This project really focused on supporting industry within the global market,” says SMART PROTEIN project coordinator Emanuele Zannini from University College Cork(opens in new window) in Ireland. “Some ingredients could be suitable for European consumers, but what about consumers from other regions? Our aim was to help industry to really refine their products and processes to fit their markets.” An important player in the consortium was the U.S.-based Good Food Institute(opens in new window), a non-profit focused on building a sustainable, healthy, and just global food system. The organization brought to the project a range of scientific, regulatory, and investment expertise from a U.S. perspective. “We needed a U.S. partner to help us better understand the challenges of the American market,” adds Zannini. “At the same time, it was important for them to see how we work in Europe. The EU’s Novel Food Regulation(opens in new window), for example, is completely different from the U.S. regulatory environment.”
Pioneering fungus fermentation
During the project, fungus fermentation was optimized to repurpose byproducts upcycled from pasta (pasta residues), bread (bread crust) and beer (spent yeast and brewery spent grain). Structure- and flavor-modifying techniques were then used to increase the digestibility and consumer acceptance of the food items. Key consumer-focused issues such as convenience and cost were also assessed, with business case analyses carried out for different markets. The international team successfully validated and demonstrated a number of food processing strategies/ingredients and plant-food products at industrial scale. “We were especially proud of our very tasty plant-based fish and cheese substitutes, that I am confident will be industrialized further by our partners,” notes Zannini. Several companies have since patented different combinations of proteins, designed to deliver particular textures. “The idea from the beginning was not just to develop new products, but to ensure that new knowledge could be easily taken up in the real world,” says Zannini. Regenerative agriculture practices, validated in a model farm, were successfully shown to significantly increase soil bioactivities and boost the soil microbiome, while reducing soil erosion. These regenerative practices have since been continued by one of the agricultural project partners.
Viable global business opportunities
These results, Zannini believes, would not have been possible without the close-knit international collaboration. “Addressing such a range of challenges required a multidisciplinary approach,” he remarks. “We had scientists focusing on everything from agriculture and food processing to human intervention studies and business strategies. Each partner provided different perspectives to the same challenge.” As a result, sustainable protein businesses now have a better understanding of the needs of different markets. The Good Food Institute played an important role in raising awareness of the project’s objectives within U.S. industry, which could help to drive business. “This cooperative approach really helped us to think bigger and more long term,” adds Zannini. “We were able to make sure that possible solutions work not just within our own ecosystem, but rather can be replicated in different environments. To build a global sustainable protein industry, this is priceless.”
