The UN estimates that by 2050 10 billion people will have to be fed on a planet with limited and even diminishing food resources due to climate change. In fact, to feed the entire planet in the next thirty years, food production will have to grow by 70%.
Thus, overpopulation and sustainability are leading scientists and the food industry to actively work on new ways to meet the challenge of feeding the entire population. In this context, different options are gaining strength, such as insect-based food as an alternative source of protein, especially in developing countries; the cultivation of microalgae, the creation of artificial meat or the cultivation of products in unproductive areas, as well as the preparation of food for those who have a disease or specific need.
According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), the use of insects as food, which is known as entomophagy, as well as for the production of feed, entails a number of benefits of an environmental, health and and for social and life media. In relation to the environment, it should be noted that insects use much less water than traditional livestock and their breeding depends less on the land than conventional livestock activity. Furthermore, insects can feed on biological waste such as food or human waste, compost and manure, and can transform this waste into high-quality protein, which in turn can be used as animal feed.
As for their health benefit, insects provide high-quality protein and nutrients compared to meat and fish. They are especially important as a food supplement for malnourished children because most insect species contain high levels of fatty acids. They are also rich in fiber and micronutrients such as copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, selenium, and zinc. In addition, insects pose a reduced risk of transmission of zoological diseases (those that are transmitted from animals to humans), such as avian influenza or mad cow disease.
Regarding its benefits for the social environment and livelihoods, the FAO mentions that hardly any technical means or important investments are needed, both for its breeding and for its harvesting, or that the poor members in certain rural or urban areas in some developing countries can grow, process and sell them. Some species can be consumed whole, either in paste or flour, and even extract their proteins. Currently, entomophagy or consumption of insects by humans is practiced mainly in regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America, supplementing the diet of 2,000 million people. The most consumed insects are beetles, followed by caterpillars, wasps and bees, ants, grasshoppers, locusts, cicadas, mealybugs, bed bugs and termites.
Although it is still a budding sector in Spain, what is clear is that insects have entered the food chain as an alternative to animal protein and it is already possible to buy them, mostly in the form of snacks or bars made with flour. At Ainia, a technological center specializing in offering innovative solutions in food, they underline that “insects offer many possibilities to the industry as healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly protein sources at zero cost”.
Algae climb positions
The overexploitation of land resources is leading the food industry to focus on the sea, which occupies two thirds of the earth’s surface. Thus, microalgae climb positions as a source of nutrients and proteins of high nutritional value and great bioavailability. The EU relies on this food source and has started to adopt strategies to boost microalgae-based food and feed production. Algae and microalgae contain lipids, proteins and carbohydrates in high amounts. As stated in Ainia, “there are microalgae rich in oligonutrients, others in essential amino acids, also in fibers… In general, they have interesting nutritional profiles”.
Currently, the nutritional value of algae is basically exploited as a food supplement. However, as Mark Brook, Vice President of Food Ingredients at Solazyme, an American biotechnology company, explains, “Algae as a food ingredient has become a trend, as consumers have begun to appreciate the potential and versatility of this superfood rich in nutrients. He adds, “Food companies are responding to consumer interest in finding vegetarian protein alternatives that are free of allergens. This is allowing algae to emerge as an alternative source of protein.” This company, for example, is developing microalgae in its country for use in the kitchen: cooking, smoothies and even algae butter.
The Anglo-Dutch food multinational Unilever, for its part, joined forces last year with the startup Algenuity, specialized in the development of algae for human consumption, in a . “The development of alternative sources to animal protein, such as microalgae, represents an important step forward on the path towards a balanced and environmentally friendly food system”, they say at Unilever, where they also think that “microalgae, one of the ingredients of the future, constitute an important alternative to the need to promote a change towards a fairer and more equitable food system, due to the great impact on the planet generated by the consumption of protein of animal origin”. Unilever seeks to bring to the market foods made with microalgae -reducing the chlorophyll content that gives them a bitter taste- that would become part of the company’s portfolio of vegetable products, owner of brands such as Hellmann’s, Knorr Lipton or Frigo.
Faced with a consumer who increasingly eats less meat, alleging reasons such as sustainability, animal welfare or health -whether or not the reasons stated are entirely true- it seems that the diet of the future also involves an increase in protein consumption vegetable, either by consuming seitan or pea protein-based hamburgers or sausages, or directly by consuming artificial meat grown in vitro. A process that involves extracting cells from a living animal, followed by selection of stem cells, and then culturing these cells in fetal serum medium (controversial because it is extracted from unborn fetuses) . Finally, a muscle mass of cells is created that can be eaten whole or ground. The result is a range that includes everything from hamburgers and sausages, to a “real” meat fillet from an animal that has never walked through the field.
personalized food
On the other hand, the food of the future goes through the creation of foods designed to minimize the effects of some diseases or pathologies. In this sense, there are companies, such as Indukern, located in Barcelona, whose food division works in collaboration with technology centers and hospitals in the development of food for dysphagia or people who do not swallow well, in food designed for people with cancer. colorectal, or for those who have neural damage due to stroke. The future of food is also heading towards the creation of protein-rich foods from electricity, air, water and bacteria, as well as the cultivation of fruit and vegetables in conditions of high temperatures and scarcity of water: that is, in desert areas or areas advancing towards desertification.
3D printing of food, using techniques such as the creation of three-dimensional models and structures, through different injection or extrusion techniques, is another option that could mark a before and after in the field of food. As explained in Ainia, “it will be an ally to adapt food production to the dietary and nutritional needs of each individual. Also to their hedonic tastes and purchasing power.” Likewise, they add in the technological center, “they will allow a more sustainable food production, aligned with the demographic and environmental challenges to which we must respond and will enable the transport of basic ingredients such as proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins, as well as flavorings and flavourings”. In relation to transport, in Ainia they remember that between 70% and 90% of the weight of a food is water.
In Ainia they put as an example that in a country that bases its diet on rice, with the nutritional deficits that this entails, 3D food printing systems would allow balanced dishes with acceptable textures and flavors to be made, making use of local raw materials, and covering nutritional deficiencies with the incorporation of minerals, vitamins or proteins from different sources, thanks to the acquisition of small batches of ingredients or taking advantage of unusual sources after their technological transformation.
Facebook Comments
Disqus