VALVE MAGAZINE Summer 2023

Sustainable Protein Products:

What’s Ahead for Manufacturers?

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

As alternatives to conventional meat products are being introduced to relieve environmental and ethical implications of farming, process engineers are presented with both challenges and opportunities.

In recent years, people worldwide have grown increasingly concerned about the

Also called fungi-based food, mycelium forms a filamen tous, dense structure that mimics meat with excellent pro tein content and digestibility. Biomass fermentation takes place in a bioreactor where environmental conditions key to the growth of the mycelium are closely monitored and controlled. Engineers are optimiz ing bioreactor design, but the process is already considered to be an efficient method of food preparation. Products made with this technique, such as Quorn, are widely available today in supermarkets. CULTIVATED MEAT Also referred to as cell-based meat, cultivated meat is a new, innovative cellular agriculture process with the potential to feed more people using fewer resources than conventionally raised livestock. Unlike plant-based meat alternatives that only mimic the taste and texture of meat, cultivated meat is a real meat protein grown from animal cells in a bioreactor. By leveraging the biotechnology already being used to

BY DIANE JACOBER

environmental and ethical implications of raising livestock on a densely populated planet. As a result, alternatives to conventional meat products are being introduced and adopt ed rapidly, presenting both challenges and opportunities for process engineers as they work to design manufacturing practices to deliver these foods at reasonable cost and with the most efficient use of resources. BIOMASS FERMENTATION AND MYCELIUM PLANT MEAT A family of products called fermented proteins are one field that is growing in popularity. While fermentation has been used in food preparation for years, recent technology is using fermentation for alternative protein production. The Good Foods Institute (GFI) defines “biomass fermentation” as “using high-protein content and rapid growth of micro organisms to efficiently make large amounts of protein-rich food.”

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