2025替代蛋白_迈向可持续食品未来白皮书_34页_3mb

Alternative Proteins: Towards a Sustainable Food Future

Core Content

Alternative proteins are emerging as a critical solution to the challenges of feeding a growing global population while reducing environmental impact and improving animal welfare. This whitepaper explores the role of innovation, regulation, and standards in shaping the future of sustainable food systems and highlights the potential of various alternative protein sources.

Main Points

• Environmental Impact: Traditional livestock farming contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and inefficient land use. Alternative proteins offer a more sustainable and efficient way to meet global protein demand.
• Market Growth: The alternative protein market is expanding rapidly, with increasing consumer interest and government support. Innovations in cultivated meat, plant-based proteins, fermentation-derived proteins, and insect-based proteins are driving this change.
• Technological Innovation: Companies are using advanced biotechnology, AI, and machine learning to develop new protein sources. These tools are helping to improve the taste, texture, and nutritional value of alternative proteins.
• Regulation and Standards: Clear and consistent standards are essential for building consumer trust, ensuring safety, and supporting regulatory approval. The role of organizations like BSI and NAPIC is crucial in developing these frameworks.
• Challenges: Despite the promise, alternative proteins face hurdles such as high production costs, scalability issues, and consumer perception. These challenges are being addressed through collaboration, research, and innovation.

Key Technologies and Innovations

4.1 Cultivated Meat

• Definition: Cultivated meat is real meat produced from animal cells grown in a lab setting.
• Production Process: Cells are cultured in bioreactors using nutrient cocktails to develop into muscle and fat tissue.
• Challenges: High costs, limited scalability, and reliance on specialized ingredients.
• Opportunities: Cost reductions through scale and process improvements, and product adaptations like blending with plant proteins.
• Case Study: Meatly has successfully launched cultivated dog treats, demonstrating the potential of targeting niche markets to overcome regulatory and consumer hurdles.

4.2 Plant-Based Protein

• Definition: Plant-based proteins include both whole foods and extracted ingredients used to create meat and dairy alternatives.
• Advantages: Lower environmental impact, better health outcomes, and diverse product forms.
• Challenges: Market acceptance, nutritional concerns, and the need for more sustainable processing methods.
• Case Study: Lidl is leading the way in affordable plant-based eating, with a focus on reducing emissions and making sustainable choices accessible.

4.3 Fermentation-Derived Protein

• Definition: Fermentation-based proteins are created using microorganisms, including traditional, biomass, and precision fermentation methods.
• Advantages: Faster production, scalability, and environmental benefits.
• Challenges: High costs, regulatory complexity, and consumer unfamiliarity.
• Case Study: Calysta and Promyc are pioneers in fermentation-derived proteins, using innovative methods to produce sustainable ingredients for various food applications.

4.4 Insect-Based Protein

• Definition: Insect-based proteins come from edible insects such as black soldier fly larvae, mealworms, and crickets.
• Advantages: High protein content, low environmental footprint, and potential for reducing food waste.
• Challenges: Cultural perceptions, regulatory complexity, and consumer acceptance.
• Case Study: Entocycle is leading the UK's insect farming sector, using black soldier flies to create sustainable animal feed and reduce reliance on soy.

Regulatory and Policy Landscape

• Global Disparities: Regulatory timelines vary significantly across countries, with Singapore and the US leading in approvals, while the UK and EU are still catching up.
• Standards and Labeling: Clear labeling is essential for consumer understanding. There is ongoing debate about appropriate terminology, with the EU court recently allowing meat-related names for plant-based products as long as composition is clearly stated.
• Government Support: The UK has invested heavily in alternative protein research, with £75 million allocated since 2021 for research centers. Other countries like the US, EU, and China are also showing strong support for the industry.

Conclusion

Alternative proteins are set to play a pivotal role in the future of food. They offer a sustainable, ethical, and innovative solution to global food security and environmental challenges. However, their success depends on overcoming technical, regulatory, and consumer acceptance hurdles. Collaboration between industry, government, and standards bodies like BSI is key to accelerating the adoption of these new protein sources.

Why BSI?

BSI is a key player in the development of standards and regulatory frameworks for alternative proteins. By working with NAPIC and other industry leaders, BSI helps ensure that alternative proteins are safe, trusted, and scalable, thus supporting their transition from innovation to mainstream acceptance.