Can alternative proteins help save the planet?

We are too reliant on animal proteins. Meat, dairy and eggs make up a huge proportion of our diets across the world population, and it comes at a cost.

It’s no coincidence that between 25% and 33% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the food sector. Consider livestock farming, where emissions can be found across the food chain. The digestive process, slurry and waste product, feed production. Then there’s the expansion of grazing pastures, transportation and storage, which all release greenhouse gases and accelerate the climate crisis.

In the UK we import huge quantities of meat and animal feed, and – against a backdrop of many global insecurities – it’s alarming we’re not self-reliant enough to feed ourselves. With a rising global population, many parts of the world are without sufficient protein already. These problems leave us with a pressing question: how can we feed a growing world sustainably, affordably and healthily?

In the recently launched National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), researchers aim to find the answers – among which could be alternative proteins.

The £38m centre is dedicated to developing planet-friendly alternatives to animal proteins. Over 30 researchers from across four institutions are working alongside industry, regulators, investors and policymakers to help make alternative proteins a viable solution. These might come from plants, insects, or microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and algae which are extracted from their natural sources or made in the lab. Our mission at NAPIC is to make alternative proteins mainstream for a sustainable planet.

There are barriers to grapple with, otherwise alternative proteins would already be on the shelves.

Food habits are part of culture and that makes them hard to shift. Edible insects, for example, which have been eaten throughout human history, are considered an unusual food in Western countries – although research has found that consumers may be interested in food products that use insects in an unrecognisable form, such as flour or powder.

For plant-based ‘meat’, products can often be more expensive than the animal-derived original, stagnating sales in challenging economic times. Taste is an issue, and finding a way to help industry make plant-based ‘meat’ products more juicy, nutritious and popular is key to getting them on the market to start that cultural shift.

Some of my research is already addressing this. The Sarkar lab has created innovative toolkits including a 3D tongue-like surface to measure in-mouth friction. The tongue is now being used by companies to measure the astringency, texture and mouthfeel of alternative proteins, which will help to speed up the product development cycle. Using the tongue, we can see how the food is interacting with saliva to create astringency, for example, and adjust the product accordingly.

I’m also the founder of MicroLub, a spin out company of the University, which is helping to make plant-based foods less astringent. To improve the taste and texture of alternative proteins, calorie-dense fats and oils are often added. At MicroLub we’ve created unique ‘scaffolds’, made of protein and water and coated by polysaccharides, to replace fats and oils without losing the mouthfeel experience. Leeds alum and former postdoctoral researcher Dr Andrea Araiza Calahorra (PhD Food Science 2020) is now Technical Director of the business, which highlights how Leeds isn’t just finding the solutions, but helping to develop talented individuals to shape the future of food.

It’s unreasonable to expect a transition to alternative proteins to happen overnight. That’s why we’re also investigating other areas of the food chain as well – such as animal feed.