Green food revolution
Plants, algae, insects and fungi - they are all considered alternatives to animal protein sources and are expected to secure the world's food supply in the future. Their advantage: they make a significant contribution to climate protection, biodiversity and a healthy diet. This is why the focus is now shifting to technologies that process protein-rich plants into alternative products or produce cultured meat in the future. For 2024, the German government has earmarked 38 million euros for investments in the transition to plant-based and other alternative protein sources. However, no one yet knows whether the associated innovations will really be sustainable.
The "Responsible Innovation and Protein Transition" (RI-ProT) project aims to clarify this. "We are looking at what raw materials, products and technologies are currently available on the market, but also at what problems exist and where solutions still need to be found in the future," explains Dr. Cornelia Rauh, Professor of Food Biotechnology and Process Engineering. The end result will be an innovation radar that will advise stakeholders in business and politics on whether an innovation in the field of alternative proteins is responsible and sustainable.
The RI-ProT team wants to find out what drives the economy to drive innovation, what problems it faces and what it wants. On the consumer side, the level of knowledge is to be surveyed in focus groups: What fears or prejudices exist? What potential is seen in the new protein sources? "The desire to eat a healthier, more natural and additive-free diet is growing among many people," says Prof. Dr. Martina Schäfer. Ethical issues, such as animal husbandry, are also increasingly being discussed in the global North.
The sustainability researcher is also responsible for promoting inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation in the project, which also involves innovation systems researcher Dr. Dagmara Weckowska from Freie Universität Berlin and political scientist Prof. Dr. Peter Feindt from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Regular meetings with associations from the food industry, agriculture and consumer protection - also project partners - are also part of the project. "It is essential to think in advance about how the exchange between the very heterogeneous partners can be methodically supported," explains Martina Schäfer.
The good old pea stew
For the plant breeders' association involved in the project, the question arises as to which regional plants, such as field beans or lupins, could be cultivated as protein sources in this country. In turn, companies are considering how they could offer protein plants, such as peas and lupins, to consumers: naturally or processed into a shredded product?
A specialist from Charité is to look into how healthy such a processed product is. "Maybe the good old pea stew is healthier in the end," laughs Cornelia Rauh. What Rauh and Schäfer appreciate about the Berlin University Alliance is that scientists from all of Berlin's universities and from a wide range of disciplines are working together on a project.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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