The role of sustainability in the food and beverage industry is becoming increasingly important, driving the protein transition and gaining traction globally. However, for long-term success, economic benefits for manufacturers must support this transition. With external factors such as the volatile energy market and legislative efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, manufacturers are seeking to improve the value of alternative proteins by reducing the cost of producing them. Kevin van Koerten, Project Manager Processing at NIZO, suggests that empowering sustainability in the food transition through innovative processing and sequential extraction and purification is another approach to deliver higher value alternative proteins.
When it comes to increasing the value of plant proteins, functionality is the key starting point. “Any conversation around protein value must start with functionality, because food product development is built around functional ingredients.” This involves structured materials, binders, or emulsifiers, all of which play a key role in product development. While some innovation exists in mildly extracting less-refined proteins with more general fractions, replacing an animal-origin ingredient with an alternative requires extracting a protein ingredient with the desired functions, following the current product development approach.
Sequential purification is a process that involves extracting multiple types of proteins from the protein source, allowing manufacturers to maximize the value extracted from this source. The dairy industry has perfected this approach, resulting in higher reductions in greenhouse gases and energy costs than efforts to cut energy usage.
Plant protein manufacturers are making strides in extracting multiple proteins with different functionalities from a single source. However, there is still exploratory work to be done in identifying all the proteins that can be extracted and optimizing the process design to get the most value, posing a complex challenge.
Challenges in optimizing processing design for plant proteins include differences in every alternative protein source and composition, common issues shared by many plant proteins like high viscosity and loss of functionality during extraction and processing. Innovative mild processing techniques like membrane filtration can provide solutions to these challenges, offering higher yields and better functionality than traditional methods.
Plant proteins can lead to increased fouling of membranes, requiring innovative techniques and research and development on the membranes themselves to optimize their potential.
Both manufacturers and food research companies like NIZO have collected a lot of data that can help deliver innovation to manufacturers. With this data and techniques such as modeling and artificial intelligence (AI), both a faster design trajectory and a higher success rate for process optimizations can be achieved.
The use of modeling and AI can help fill in the blanks of missing data and find patterns that humans might not see. Although AI results are far from perfect, knowledgeable humans can sift through the results to filter out unrealistic suggestions and outcomes.
Even with the challenges, exploring the potential of plant proteins can be worthwhile for manufacturers, especially if all the potential value can be extracted. A holistic approach, understanding of processing techniques and protein sources, and a focus on sustainability are key in this journey. The potential payoff is believed to be more than worth the effort and investments.