SMART Proteins-An Overview

Introduction

Smart protein, popularly termed alternative protein, is a rapidly growing sector, focussing on novel foods as a viable alternative to animal derived protein in a cost effective, resource effective and nutritious manner. These are alternatives to animal derived from meat, eggs, diary, and seafood, focussing on delivering same sensory experiences to the consumer so that the foods can be accessed like a simple switch to “fiction food”. Smart proteins can be plant based, fermentation derived, insect based or cell cultivated. Instead of encouraging consumers to decrease the meat consumption, Smart proteins present sustainable, conceivable, and scalable alternatives to meat, eggs, milk, fish and chicken by simulating the taste and texture.

The need for smart proteins:

Demand for protein is on a relentlessly upward trajectory. It is estimated that the world population will grow to 9.8 billion by 2050, and the vast majority of this will be in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Industrial animal agriculture — sourcing meat, eggs, and dairy from large-scale farming, slaughter, and fishing — poses huge risks including zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, and a slew of climate change issues due to its massive land, water, and energy burdens. Our agricultural system accounts for 26% of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, with livestock re-sponsible for half of this.

Thus, replacement proteins that do not require animals are major drivers for alternative protein. Here enters the smart protein industry that encompasses products made from plants and cell cultivation, eliminating the need to inefficiently cycle calories through animals, freeing up huge tracts of land, saving huge quantities of water, and eliminating huge quantities of emissions. Smart proteins also do not require the use of antibiotics and eliminate the risk of zoonoses especially a concern during the era of many unheard and unseen viral diseases, making them far better for public health. The level of investment in alternative proteins has rapidly increased with billions invested and hundreds of new companies entering this sector. In a recent report, the market for alternative proteins was predicted to reach $290 billion by 2035.

The array of smart proteins:

1.Power up with Plant based proteins.

Owing to the recent trends toward veganism and environmental concerns around animal-based products, the consumption of plant-based proteins is increasing at an annual rate of 7 % globally, the most common protein rich plants being soybean, legumes and oilseeds. Protein rich plants have comparable protein content to meat as they are mostly consumed in raw state. They usually possess more fibre and less saturated fat.

Despite these advantages and the successful market growth, the plant-based food industry is still facing various hurdles, mainly due to the technological challenges of mimicking meat texture and flavour, nutrition, and food-safety concerns. To form fibrous meat-like textures, plant proteins often undergo intensive industrial processing such as thermos extrusion, shearing, and cross-linking. To mimic organic characteristics of meat, various additives are currently being used, such as flavour- enhancing compounds, pigments, and fatty acids to improve the taste, colour, and mouthfeel of the plant-based products. Although successful in satisfying consumers’ perception, these products are often far from the wholesome primary ingredients they are made of and, often considered as ultra-processed food.

2.Instant energy with Insect based smart proteins

Insects are an abundant, sustainable protein source and have been labelled as a potential partial solution to the worldwide food crisis. They are considered to be abundant store houses of essential amino acids needed for good human health.

However, insects also contain chitin which reduces protein digestibility and the risk of allergy. While around two billion people in 130 countries regularly eat insects, it has been the challenge of how to manage food waste that led to advent of development of large-scale insect-farming facilities. Most of this protein goes into pet food or animal feed, particularly for aquaculture, poultry, and pork.

3.Going muscular with Mycoproteins, getting active with algae-Fermentation

based and recombinant smart proteins Fermentation based proteins are broadly classified into products from precision fermentation and biomass fermentation. Mycoproteins, algal proteins, yeast, rennet etc., belong to this league of super foods.

Mycoproteins are alternative, nutritious protein source produced by fermentation of a filamentous fungus, Fusarium venenatum, on a food-grade carbohydrate medium in a temperature- and pH-controlled environment. The resultant product is a high-protein, low-fat, low cholesterol, low sodium, low sugar, and high fibre product, which after undertaking flavour- and texture-improving processes (e.g., freezing), turns into a variety of meat-like products.

Algae is another candidate in the smart protein industry with nutritional benefits of fish (mainly essential omega 3 fatty acids and protein from marine algae). The most used microalgae in the food industry are Arthrospira sp. And Chlorella sp. with a protein content as high as over 50% of dry weight. Found rich in bioactive peptides and antioxidants, algae can improve biological defences in the body against inflammatory diseases. One of the most important advantages of the algae industry is that it is often grown in areas considered as nonarable, therefore minimizing land use. Also, algae are fed with upcycled food waste such as brewer’s spent grains, soybean pulp, and molasses from sugar refineries.

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