As the demand for vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian food markets increases, the demand for plant-based protein is also growing. Innovators in the UK, one of the most developed plant-based food markets, are working towards reducing the country’s reliance on imported plant proteins such as soy and pea by creating a home-grown alternative: protein derived from leaves.
Under a two-year Innovate UK-funded research project named Vertical Indoor Protein from Leaf (VIP Leaf), vertical farming facilities will be utilized to grow amaranth, a plant considered “undervalued” in the current UK market. The crops will then be used to develop a new source of plant protein, with potential economic, environmental, and health gains. This is particularly unique as it combines vertical farming technology and crop biology to develop an alternative protein from the amaranth leaf.
Amaranth is currently widely grown and consumed in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America, but since the crop prefers higher temperatures, the UK doesn’t support its growth. Cultivating amaranth exclusively within vertical farming facilities, therefore, reduces the amount of land for cultivation and carbon emissions emitted during the transportation process. Vertically farmed amaranth has lower environmental costs than other more widely available plant proteins, making it a sustainable alternative.
Apart from being a sustainable alternative, amaranth has several nutritional benefits such as a high amino acid profile, containing fiber and other macro/micronutrients, being gluten-free, and having no known tolerances unlike soy and pea.
With the cultivation being aided by technologies sourced from Vertical Future, CHAP, and Syan Farms, development kitchens and manufacturing facilities will be provided by Eat Curious to trial the amaranth produced in plant-based products. This will enable assessment of its potential to replace other plant-based proteins currently in the market.
The VIP Leaf project is centered around developing a new alternative protein from the amaranth leaf. It is hoped that the results from the project will help the UK meet its Net Zero target by 2050.
Another project recently received funding from Innovate UK to produce “tasteless” nutritionally-rich pea protein to solve the “beany” flavor problem currently plaguing plant-based protein production. It is exciting to see UK Innovate investing in alternative proteins and driving sustainable and nutritious food production.
