Microalgae for health

Microalgal proteins for the future

Context

“Over the next 35 years, agriculture will face unprecedented pressures, including a 30% increase in the global population, growing competition for increasingly scarce land, water and energy resources, and the existential threat of climate change. To feed a population that is expected to reach 9.3 billion people by 2050 and to support dietary changes, it has been estimated that global food production should increase from the current 8.4 billion tonnes to nearly 13.5 billion tonnes per year.”

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Scientific objectives

ProFuture – Microalgae Protein-Rich Ingredients for the Food And Feed of the Future (2019-2023) – is a research project funded by the European Union, with the aim of finding the starting point for the commercialisation of innovative food and feed products , healthy and sustainable, reformulated with protein-rich ingredients from 4 whole microalgae strains:

• Spirulina
• Lemon Chlorella vulgaris
• Tetraselmis chuii 
• Nannochloropsis oceanica

The project brings together 8 research centres, 15 SMEs, 7 large companies and 1 association, from different countries of the European Union.

The objective of the associated research centres is to streamline the stages of microalgae cultivation in order to reduce the cost of production. Companies specializing in microalgae cultivation will produce the strains using these methods streamlined by the laboratories.

This multifactorial approach aims to increase the sustainability of production and transformation of microalgae biomass while also reducing energy and water consumption as well as the carbon footprint. Implementation of these innovative technologies will increase efficiency and reduce the costs of producing biomass, ingredients and food/animal feed.

ALGOSOURCE, partner of the ProFuture project – Microalgal Proteins for the Future

ALGOSOURCE is working on the extraction of microalgae proteins. These will be dried at the sites of other industrial partners and then analysed by other research centres, partners in the project. The last step will be performed by specialised companies that will integrate microalgae products for food production: soups, vegan sausages, bread, pasta, spreads and protein bars for athletes. Tests will also be conducted in the production of animal feed for fish, chickens and pigs.

Food products created in this manner will be subjected to taste tests by groups whose opinions and feedback will be analysed statistically.

All the environmental and regulatory aspects will also be analysed in this project. This project offers ALGOSOURCE the opportunity to optimize and control the results of a complete production line, in direct contact with the potential market and future consumers of these food products of the future.