It's a downward spiral that needs to be broken: climate change is affecting the availability of food resources, while the world's population is growing. Our eating habits contribute to new greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change.
Does the solution lie in alternative foods?
Food production in the future is likely to look very different from today. Work is already underway to supplement conventional ingredients and animal products - with bacteria and fungi.
"We need to find new types of food to replace environmentally unfriendly products, while ensuring long-term supply. It's all about using resources more efficiently to produce equivalent food for people," says Gunnar Westin, who is responsible for RISE's new food technology infrastructure for biotechnology in Örnsköldsvik.
His team works with microbial ingredients, which are microorganisms that either become part of a food or produce components for a food.
"Together with a customer, we can improve something they have tested on a smaller scale or develop something completely new. A common product in supermarkets today is soy protein in various forms, and our facility can test the production of similar foods but with different raw materials to make the process more sustainable," explains Gunnar Westin.
From waste to protein
So how does it work? Put simply, it involves growing micro-organisms such as fungi, yeasts and bacteria in a controlled environment. Fermentation tanks, where the temperature, pH and oxygen supply are controlled, are an example of such an environment.
The micro-organisms need a carbon source to grow and produce biomass (in this case, what eventually becomes food). The Örnsköldsvik plant uses carbon from agricultural and forestry waste streams, such as the cellulose found in sawdust. Biotechnological methods are used to break down the residues into sugars in particular, which can be consumed by microorganisms and converted into protein and other nutrients.
The first projects to be launched at the Örnsköldsvik facility will involve the development of meat analogues (meat substitutes), plant-based cheeses and kefir.
"We can work with tens of thousands of micro-organisms in parallel. We can also scale up a process on a very large scale and produce several tonnes of material or ingredients. For example, to verify a new process or for a large-scale market test," says Gunnar Westin.
New food-grade environment strengthens RISE offering
The fact that the facility in Örnsköldsvik is food-grade means that the products made there can be consumed by humans. This is an important factor for food companies that conduct tests with RISE to be able to use a taste panel and conduct market research.
"At RISE, we have expertise across the food chain, including sensory science, process development and product design. The investment in the new infrastructure is an important addition, giving us new opportunities to use our expertise in biotechnology and food to develop new products and technologies. For example, biotechnology allows us to develop new components that we think would work well in a meat analogue, but to turn it into a product that will be well received by the general public, further development steps are required," says Gunnar Westin.
Getting a new product accepted by consumers is perhaps the biggest challenge in alternative food.
"It's not enough for a food to be healthy, people have to choose it. Sometimes it's a matter of imitating something that many people like, sometimes it's a new type of product that we have to get used to," says Gunnar Westin.
Paving the way for commercialisation
Another challenge is to create the right economic conditions. Today, the knowledge and capacity exists to produce almost anything, but consumers are not prepared to pay for such a process by choosing a vegan substitute that costs many times more than the traditional product.
"Where a lot of effort is required to produce a product, it is important that the process is efficient so that the required quantity is actually produced. And if we take a step back, we first need to identify which of the advances in alternative food research are relevant for actual implementation in society," says Gunnar Westin:
With my team's technical expertise in biotechnology and our research colleagues' expertise in food, together we can provide companies with answers as to whether a new idea is worth pursuing or not.
"With my team's technical expertise in biotechnology and our research colleagues' expertise in food, together we can help companies decide whether or not a new idea is worth pursuing. It's very much about combining the experimental part with the economic modelling, so that you get figures on what a process could look like and what it would cost."
In the end, the companies have enough information to take an investor on the road to commercialisation. What started as a single-celled yeast could then end up in the shops as a meat analogue with an acceptable price tag.
What are alternative foods?
Alternative foods are foods that can be used as a substitute for conventional ingredients and animal products. Examples include oat milk, which can replace cow's milk, and extruded pea protein, which can replace traditional meat products. In Örnsköldsvik, RISE uses micro-organisms and enzymes to produce proteins for food.
The aim of developing alternative foods is to reduce the impact on the climate, improve animal welfare and provide consumers with healthier or more allergy-friendly alternatives.
