Despite the recognized advantages of taking in less meat and more plant-based foods, customers typically have a hard time at the grocery store, swayed by taste and texture choices, even as some plant-based options fall brief in sustainability. New research study from the University of Copenhagen presents an appealing service: utilizing non-toxic blue-green algae, particularly customized cyanobacteria, to produce protein-rich foods with meat-like textures, providing a sustainable and minimally processed option.
It’s commonly acknowledged that decreasing our intake of meat and cheese in favor of plant-based foods is useful. However, when confronted with the option in between standard animal-based products and eco-friendly alternative proteins in the grocery store’s cooled area, we do not constantly make the eco-conscious option. Despite the reality that lots of plant-based choices now have excellent taste, textures with the ‘right’ mouthfeel have actually typically been doing not have.
Furthermore, some plant-based protein options are not as sustainable anyhow, due to the resources taken in by their processing.
But what if it was possible to make sustainable, protein-rich foods that likewise have the best texture? New research study from the University of Copenhagen is sustaining that vision. The secret? Blue- green algae. Not the notorious type understood for being a harmful broth in the sea come summer, however non-toxic ones.
A closed photobioreactor where microalgae are cultivated in glass tubes. Credit: IGV Biotech, CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED
“Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are living organisms that we have been able to get to produce a protein that they don’t naturally produce. The particularly exciting thing here is that the protein is formed in fibrous strands that somewhat resemble meat fibers. And, it might be possible to use these fibers in plant-based meat, cheese, or some other new type of food for which we are after a particular texture,” states Professor Poul Erik Jensen of the Department of Food Science.
In a brand-new research study, Jensen and fellow scientists from the University of Copenhagen, to name a few organizations, have actually revealed that cyanobacteria can function as host organisms for the brand-new protein by placing foreign genes into a cyanobacterium. Within the cyanobacterium, the protein arranges itself as small threads or nanofibers.
Minimal processing– optimal sustainability
Scientists around the globe have actually focused on cyanobacteria and other microalgae as prospective alternative foods. In part since, like plants, they grow by methods of < period class =(******************************************************** )aria-describedby =(********************************************************* )data-cmtooltip ="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>photosynthesis</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Photosynthesis is how plants and some microorganisms use sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water.</div>" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}] "tabindex ="0" function =(************************************************************* )> photosynthesis(******************* ), and partially since they themselves include both a big quantity of protein and healthy polyunsaturated fats.
(************ )” I’m a modest guy from the nation side who seldom tosses his arms into the air, however having the ability to control a living organism to produce a brand-new sort of protein which arranges itself into threads is seldom seen to this degree– and it is extremely appealing.Also, since it is an organism that can quickly be grown sustainably, as it endures on water, climatic CO 2, and solar rays. This result offers cyanobacteria even higher capacity as a sustainable active ingredient,” states a passionate Poul Erik Jensen, who heads a research study group focusing on plant-based food and plant biochemistry.
Many scientists around the globe are working to establish protein-rich texture enhancers for plant-based foods– e.g., in the kind of peas and soybeans. However, these need a substantial quantity of processing, as the seeds require to be ground up and the protein drawn out from them, so regarding attain high adequate protein concentrations.
“If we can utilize the entire cyanobacterium in foodstuffs, and not just the protein fibers, it will minimize the amount of processing needed. In food research, we seek to avoid too much processing as it compromises the nutritional value of an ingredient and also uses an awful lot of energy,” states Jensen.
Tomorrow’s livestock
The teacher stresses that it will be rather a long time before the production of protein hairs from cyanobacteria starts. First, the scientists require to determine how to enhance the cyanobacteria’s production of protein fibers. But Jensen is positive:
“We need to refine these organisms to produce more protein fibres, and in doing so, ‘hijack’ the cyanobacteria to work for us. It’s a bit like dairy cows, which we’ve hijacked to produce an insane amount of milk for us. Except here, we avoid any ethical considerations regarding animal welfare. We won’t reach our goal tomorrow because of a few metabolic challenges in the organism that we must learn to tackle. But we’re already in the process and I am certain that we can succeed,” states Poul Erik Jensen, including:
“If so, this is the ultimate way to make protein.”
Cyanobacteria such as spirulina are currently grown industrially in a number of nations– mainly for organic food. Production normally takes place in so-called raceway ponds below the open sky or in photobioreactors chambers, where the organisms grow in glass tubes.
According to Jensen, Denmark is an apparent location to develop “microalgae factories” to produce processed cyanobacteria. The nation has biotech business with the best abilities and an effective farming sector.
“Danish agriculture could, in principle, produce cyanobacteria and other microalgae, just as they produce dairy products today. It would be possible to harvest, or milk, a proportion of the cells as fresh biomass on a daily basis. By concentrating cyanobacteria cells, you get something that looks like a pesto, but with protein strands. And with minimal processing, it could be incorporated directly into a food.”
Reference: “Self-Assembly of Nanofilaments in Cyanobacteria for Protein Co-localization” by Julie A. Z. Zedler, Alexandra M. Schirmacher, David A. Russo, Lorna Hodgson, Emil Gundersen, Annemarie Matthes, Stefanie Frank, Paul Verkade and Poul Erik Jensen, 8 December 2023, AIR CONDITIONING Nano
DOI: 10.1021/ acsnano.3 c08600
