Non-profit think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe has applauded the Catalan government’s €7 million (US$7.32 million) investment in a research center to bolster more sustainable ways of making plant-based meat and accelerate the region’s vibrant culture and food industry.
The Center for Innovation in Alternative Proteins (CiPA), based across various sites throughout the region, has been funded by the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Institute of Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA).
The center will help businesses scale up the production of foods such as plant-based meat and fermentation — which uses organisms such as yeast to produce animal proteins and other ingredients to deliver the flavor and texture of meat, dairy and eggs without farming animals.
Protein transition
The EU is promoting the “protein transition,” which proposes rationalizing animal meat intake and increasing alternative protein sources: vegetables, microalgae, fermentation of fungi (and other microorganisms) and insects.
The CiPA is on track to valorize alternative protein sources to traditional ones.
It is also expected that these new protein sources will reduce the environmental impact of traditional food production, promoting a healthier and more self-sufficient diet from sustainable local productions. All this represents an opportunity for the Catalan agri-food sector, which can become an essential lever for transforming the country’s food system.
According to the IRTA (Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology), all this will entail an expansion of knowledge of the nutritional, functional, sensory and food safety parameters of these foods. This knowledge will be transferred to the productive sector, which will be able to move, accompanied by IRTA and the new CiPA, in an efficient, safe and sustainable way toward the food of the future.
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