The human demand for plant proteins continues to grow. And Irish farmers can help meet this burgeoning need.
Estimates put the size of the global market for these products at around €17 billion, one which is expected to grow at around 7%/yr.
The subject was featured on a recent edition of the Tillage Edge podcast.
Teagasc’s Sinéad Fitzsimons and Mark Fenelon are working on the fast evolving U-PROTEIN research and development project.
They took the opportunity of putting into perspective the impact of their ongoing work into the development of new, plant protein-based products.
According to Fenelon, there are excellent opportunities to grow protein crops for the human food chain in Ireland.
“In many cases, we are talking about the inclusion of plant proteins in ingredients. This market is very large and continues to grow,” he said.
“Ireland already exports a lot of its dairy and beef products. But, equally, there is an opportunity to export plant proteins as components within food ingredients into the future.
“Formulated and pre-prepared food are all manufactured with a wide range of ingredients. And, of course, protein is key in this context.
“Protein is required for growth. As the world’s population continues to increase and average incomes rise, the demand for high quality protein will increase accordingly.”
Use of plant proteins
U-PROTEIN is a project that has been established to identify how Irish plant proteins can be best used to meet the requirements of the ingredients sector.
Its ultimate aim is to create new business opportunities for the farming community. This would complement the activities already taking place within the likes of the dairy and beef industries.
At a technical level, the focus of U-PROTEIN is to add value to an entire protein crop. It is already apparent that products such as starch and fibres can also be extracted from these sources.
These can then be used to form a nutritional base within a range of foods.
“This represents a great opportunity for Ireland. Given our mild climate, we can grow crops like potatoes and faba beans very well,” Fenelon continued.
“In many ways, we are taking a lead from the dairy industry, which has done so much to add value to milk.
“Our aim is to do the same with plant proteins; in other words make full use of the entire crop, not just the protein fraction.”