Abstract
BackgroundCurrently around one billion people in the world do not have access to a diet which provides enough protein and energy. However, the production of one of the main sources of protein, animal meat, causes severe impacts on the environment. The present study investigates the production of a vegan-mycoprotein concentrate from pea-industry byproduct (PpB), using edible filamentous fungi, with potential application in human nutrition. Edible fungal strains of Ascomycota (Aspergillus oryzae, Fusarium venenatum, Monascus purpureus, Neurospora intermedia) and Zygomycota (Rhizopus oryzae) phyla were screened and selected for their protein production yield.ResultsA. oryzae had the best performance among the tested fungi, with a protein yield of 0.26 g per g of pea-processing byproduct from the bench scale airlift bioreactor cultivation. It is estimated that by integrating the novel fungal process at an existing pea-processing industry, about 680 kg of fungal biomass attributing to about 38% of extra protein could be produced for each 1 metric ton of pea-processing byproduct. This study is the first of its kind to demonstrate the potential of the pea-processing byproduct to be used by filamentous fungi to produce vegan-mycoprotein for human food applications.ConclusionThe pea-processing byproduct (PpB) was proved to be an efficient medium for the growth of filamentous fungi to produce a vegan-protein concentrate. Moreover, an industrial scenario for the production of vegan-mycoprotein concentrate for human nutrition is proposed as an integrated process to the existing PPI production facilities.
Highlights
Around one billion people in the world do not have access to a diet which provides enough protein and energy
Mycoprotein can potentially contribute to both prevention and treatment of lifestyle dependent conditions such as obesity and type 2-diabetes; more research is needed to confirm this
The pea-processing byproduct was proved to be an efficient medium for the growth of filamentous fungi to produce a vegan-protein concentrate
Summary
Around one billion people in the world do not have access to a diet which provides enough protein and energy. The production of one of the main sources of protein, animal meat, causes severe impacts on the environment. The production of meat has a heavy impact on the environment and makes a large contribution to the eutrophication process [3, 4]. In this context, it is important to find an alternative, cheap, and less resource-consuming protein source to substitute meat or meat products. It is important to find an alternative, cheap, and less resource-consuming protein source to substitute meat or meat products Fungal organisms such as mushrooms and truffles have traditionally been part of human nutrition largely because of their flavor; they cannot be considered as an important source of protein in comparison to meat-based sources [1, 5]. Considerable attention has been recently given to the use of filamentous fungi as a commercial human food component; especially due to their high protein content with all the
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