Strategies to Reduce Fossil Fuel Use in Food Manufacturing.

Our food production relies on the input of fossil fuels to create the high variety of different food products currently on the market. This reliance has caused challenges due to the inherent emissions generated by the combustion of fossil fuels and the dependence of many countries on only a small number of fossil fuel suppliers. This review aims to look at these challenges and discusses several mitigation strategies to reduce the usage of fossil fuels in the food processing part of the food value chain. In this specific step, there is substantial potential to change the type of energy that is used to transform the raw materials into an edible food matrix because the operations mainly include processes that rely often on natural gas for heating and electricity that is used for machine operation and cooling. Both energy sources can be replaced by clean and renewable alternatives, especially with alternative heating options such as geothermal heating and electrical boilers being installed and offered more frequently. However, short-term solutions like energy reduction through process optimization and the integration of smart sensors can also help to reduce the overall energy use in the short term. These strategies are outlined in this review along with in-depth analyses of the types of energy used in food processing, the available clean and renewable energy technologies that do not rely on fossil fuels, and the current hurdles and limitations. It becomes evident that most of the required technologies are already available on the market and that considerable investments are necessary to implement a comprehensive energy strategy that does not rely on fossil fuels in food manufacturing. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, Volume 15 is April 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives Contribute to a Healthy and Sustainable Diet.

Plant-based foods are increasing in popularity as more and more people are concerned about personal and planetary health. The consumption of plant-based dairy alternatives (PBDAs) has assumed a more significant dietary role in populations shifting to more sustainable eating habits. Plant-based drinks (PBDs) made from soya and other legumes have ample protein levels. PBDs that are appropriately fortified have adequate levels of important vitamins and minerals comparable to dairy milk. For the PBDs examined, the greenhouse gas emissions were diminished by 59-71% per 250 mL, and the land use and eutrophication impact was markedly less than the levels displayed by dairy milk. The water usage for the oat and soya drinks, but not rice drinks, was substantially lower compared to dairy milk. When one substitutes the 250 mL serving of dairy milk allowed within the EAT Lancet Planetary Health Diet for a fortified plant-based drink, we found that the nutritional status is not compromised but the environmental footprint is reduced. Combining a nutrient density score with an environmental index can easily lead to a misclassification of food when the full nutrition profile is not utilized or only a selection of environmental factors is used. Many PBDAs have been categorized as ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Such a classification, with the implied adverse nutritional and health associations, is inconsistent with current findings regarding the nutritional quality of such products and may discourage people from transitioning to a plant-based diet with its health and environmental advantages.

Metabolic Modeling of Hermetia illucens Larvae Resource Allocation for High-Value Fatty Acid Production.

All plant and animal kingdom organisms use highly connected biochemical networks to facilitate sustaining, proliferation, and growth functions. While the biochemical network details are well known, the understanding of the intense regulation principles is still limited. We chose to investigate the Hermetia illucens fly at the larval stage because this stage is a crucial period for the successful accumulation and allocation of resources for the subsequent organism's developmental stages. We combined iterative wet lab experiments and innovative metabolic modeling design approaches to simulate and explain the H. illucens larval stage resource allocation processes and biotechnology potential. We performed time-based growth and high-value chemical compound accumulation wet lab chemical analysis experiments on larvae and the Gainesville diet composition. We built and validated the first H. illucens medium-size, stoichiometric metabolic model to predict the effects of diet-based alterations on fatty acid allocation potential. Using optimization methods such as flux balance and flux variability analysis on the novel insect metabolic model, we predicted that doubled essential amino acid consumption increased the growth rate by 32%, but pure glucose consumption had no positive impact on growth. In the case of doubled pure valine consumption, the model predicted a 2% higher growth rate. In this study, we describe a new framework for researching the impact of dietary alterations on the metabolism of multi-cellular organisms at different developmental stages for improved, sustainable, and directed high-value chemicals.

Meat substitutes: Resource demands and environmental footprints.

The modern food system is characterized with high environmental impact, which is in many cases associated with increased rates of animal production and overconsumption. The adoption of alternatives to meat proteins (insects, plants, mycoprotein, microalgae, cultured meat, etc.) might potentially influence the environmental impact and human health in a positive or negative way but could also trigger indirect impacts with higher consumption rates. Current review provides a condensed analysis on potential environmental impacts, resource consumption rates and unintended trade-offs associated with integration of alternative proteins in complex global food system in the form of meat substitutes. We focus on emissions of greenhouse gases, land use, non-renewable energy use and water footprint highlighted for both ingredients used for meat substitutes and ready products. The benefits and limitations of meat substitution are highlighted in relation to a weight and protein content. The analysis of the recent research literature allowed us to define issues, that require the attention of future studies.

Transformation of Seafood Side-Streams and Residuals into Valuable Products.

Seafood processing creates enormous amounts of side-streams. This review deals with the use of seafood side-streams for transformation into valuable products and identifies suitable approaches for making use of it for different purposes. Starting at the stage of catching fish to its selling point, many of the fish parts, such as head, skin, tail, fillet cut-offs, and the viscera, are wasted. These parts are rich in proteins, enzymes, healthy fatty acids such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated ones, gelatin, and collagen. The valuable biochemical composition makes it worth discussing paths through which seafood side-streams can be turned into valuable products. Drawbacks, as well as challenges of different aquacultures, demonstrate the importance of using the various side-streams to produce valuable compounds to improve economic performance efficiency and sustainability of aquaculture. In this review, conventional and novel utilization approaches, as well as a combination of both, have been identified, which will lead to the development of sustainable production chains and the emergence of new bio-based products in the future.

Modeling obesity in complex food systems: Systematic review.

Obesity-related data derived from multiple complex systems spanning media, social, economic, food activity, health records, and infrastructure (sensors, smartphones, etc.) can assist us in understanding the relationship between obesity drivers for more efficient prevention and treatment. Reviewed literature shows a growing adaptation of the machine-learning model in recent years dealing with mechanisms and interventions in social influence, nutritional diet, eating behavior, physical activity, built environment, obesity prevalence prediction, distribution, and healthcare cost-related outcomes of obesity. Most models are designed to reflect through time and space at the individual level in a population, which indicates the need for a macro-level generalized population model. The model should consider all interconnected multi-system drivers to address obesity prevalence and intervention. This paper reviews existing computational models and datasets used to compute obesity outcomes to design a conceptual framework for establishing a macro-level generalized obesity model.

Edible Insect Farming in the Context of the EU Regulations and Marketing-An Overview.

Insects are increasingly being considered as an attractive source of protein that can cater to the growing demand for food around the world and promote the development of sustainable food systems. Commercial insect farms have been established in various countries, mainly in Asia, but in Europe, edible insects have not yet emerged as a viable alternative to traditional plant- and animal-based sources of protein. In this paper, we present an interdisciplinary overview of the technological aspects of edible insect farming in the context of the EU regulations and marketing. Based on a review of the literature, we have concluded that edible insect farming can be a viable business sector that significantly contributes to the overall sustainability of food systems if the appropriate regulations are introduced and food safety standards are guaranteed. However, the success of the edible insect industry also requires consumer acceptance of entomophagy, which is rather low in Western societies. Therefore, targeted marketing strategies are indispensable to support the implementation of edible insect programs.

Overcoming Technical and Market Barriers to Enable Sustainable Large-Scale Production and Consumption of Insect Proteins in Europe: A SUSINCHAIN Perspective.

The expected global population growth to 9.7 billion people in 2050 and the significant change in global dietary patterns require an increase in global food production by about 60%. The protein supply for feed and food is most critical and requires an extension in protein sources. Edible insects can upgrade low-grade side streams of food production into high-quality protein, amino acids and vitamins in a very efficient way. Insects are considered to be the "missing link" in the food chain of a circular and sustainable economy. Insects and insect-derived products have entered the European market since first being acknowledged as a valuable protein source for feed and food production in around 2010. However, today, scaling up the insect value chain in Europe is progressing at a relatively slow pace. The mission of SUSINCHAIN (SUStainable INsect CHAIN)-a four-year project which has received funding from the European Commission-is to contribute to novel protein provision for feed and food in Europe by overcoming the remaining barriers for increasing the economic viability of the insect value chain and opening markets by combining forces in a comprehensive multi-actor consortium. The overall project objective is to test, pilot and demonstrate recently developed technologies, products and processes, to realize a shift up to Technology Readiness Level 6 or higher. In addition to these crucial activities, the project engages with stakeholders in the insect protein supply chain for feed and food by living labs and workshops. These actions provide the necessary knowledge and data for actors in the insect value chain to decrease the cost price of insect products, process insects more efficiently and market insect protein applications in animal feed and regular human diets that are safe and sustainable. This paves the way for further upscaling and commercialization of the European insect sector.

An automated, modular system for organic waste utilization using heterotrophic alga Galdieria sulphuraria: Design considerations and sustainability.

Large amounts of food are wasted and valuable contents are not utilized completely. Methods to process such wastes into biomass of defined composition automatically and in decentralized locations are lacking. Thus, this study presents a modular design for residue utilization and continuous production of the heterotrophic alga Galdieria sulphuraria. A life cycle and economic assessment are carried out on the hypothetical design to define whether the proposed system can be ecologically and economically viable. Producing one kg of dried biomass would cost 4.38 € and be associated with 3.8 kg CO2 eq emitted, 69.9 MJ of non-renewable energy use, and 0.09 m2 of land occupation. Sustainability is comparable to conventional protein sources, with further improvement foreseen through avoidance of drying. These results demonstrate how circular bioeconomy potentials of residues could be realized using heterotrophic G. sulphuraria. It highlights key issues of developing an environmentally and economically sustainable concept.

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) and their affinity for organic waste processing.

There are two major problems that we are facing currently. Firstly, a growing human population continues to contribute to the increased food demand. Secondly, the volume of organic waste produced will threaten human health and the quality of the environment. Recently, there is an increasing number of efforts placed into farming insect biomass to produce alternative feed ingredients. Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), Hermetia illucens have proven to convert organic waste into high-quality nutrients for pet foods, fish and poultry feeds, as well as residue fertilizer for soil amendment. However, better BSFL feed formulation and feeding approaches are necessary for yielding a higher nutrient content of the insect body, and if performed efficiently, whilst converting waste into higher value biomass. Lastly, this paper reveals that BSFL, in fact, thrives in various ranges of organic matter composition and with simple rearing systems.

The impact of Corona pandemic on consumer's food consumption: Vulnerability of households with children and income losses and change in sustainable consumption behavior.

The ongoing corona crisis affected many people worldwide by restrictions in their everyday lives. The question arises to what extent the pandemic has accelerated diet trends or general differences in food consumption between different population groups. For this purpose, an online-survey was carried out in order to determine the effects of the corona lockdown on food consumption, shopping behaviour and eating habits in Germany. The aspects of sustainability and health were given special consideration in this study, reflecting people choices of healthier and more environmentally conscious foods. This study demonstrates that the corona pandemic has a significant impact on consumers' eating habits. More food was eaten, and more convenience products such as ready-made meals and canned food with a longer shelf life were purchased. The consumption of alcohol and sweets has also increased. In return, there was a reduced consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. The findings reveal that families who are financially affected by the pandemic represent a vulnerable group. With the ongoing pandemic, possible lockdowns, corona-related closings of schools and kindergartens, severe health consequences are expected long term, especially for this population group. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00003-021-01341-1.

Comparative life cycle assessment of a mesh ultra-thin layer photobioreactor and a tubular glass photobioreactor for the production of bioactive algae extracts.

This study aimed at the comparison of two different photobioreactors with focus on technology and sustainability. The mesh ultra-thin layer photobioreactor (MUTL-PBR) exhibited around 3-fold biomass based space-time-yield and an around 10-fold specific antioxidant capacity than the traditional reference photobioreactor. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was done under autotrophic conditions in both pilot scale reactors with focus on biomass production and on antioxidant capacity of the biomass, respectively. Biomass production within the reference reactor showed a lower environmental impact in most categories. A significantly higher energy demand for mixing and cooling of the cell suspension within the MUTL-PBR is the major reason for its environmental burden. This relates to high impacts in the categories "non-renewable energy" and "global warming potential" per kg biomass. Comparing algal antioxidant capacity, environmental impact of the MUTL cultivation was 5-10 times lower. This clearly illustrates the potential of MUTL-PBR for sustainable production of bioactive substances.

Cultivation of the heterotrophic microalga Galdieria sulphuraria on food waste: A Life Cycle Assessment.

The aim of this study was to perform a Life Cycle Assessment of a production process of 1 kg dry algal biomass powder (Galdieria sulphuraria) with 27 % (w/w) protein content for human consumption for optimizing the production regarding global warming potential and resource efficiency in combination with food waste utilization. It was investigated, underpinned by a comparison of the use of conventional glucose, whether and to what extent the environmental impact/global warming potential can be reduced by changing to food waste hydrolysate and how this can lead to a more sustainable use of resources and a sustainable development. Overall, the results showed that hydrolysis, along with freeze-drying, caused most of the overall impact. The carbon footprint associated with the use of hydrolyzed food waste was 11% higher than using conventional glucose and supplementary nutrients mainly driven by the high demand of energy for hydrolysis.

Life cycle assessment of hetero- and phototrophic as well as combined cultivations of Galdieria sulphuraria.

Microalgae cultivation for food purposes could have high environmental impacts. The study performed life cycle assessment (LCA) of hypothetical model combining phototrophic and heterotrophic cultivations, exchanging produced gases (carbon dioxide from heterotrophic and oxygen from autotrophic) as a potential strategy to reduce the environmental impact of microalgae cultivation. The LCA indicated that the production of Galdieria sulphuraria in a combined cultivation system has environmental benefits compared with the separate phototrophic cultivation and an almost twice lower carbon footprint than phototrophic cultivation. The benefits are based on the lower volume of culture broth and consequently reduced energy demand as well as less demanding wastewater treatment of the heterotrophic cultivation. Such combination of cultivation activities could be recommended to the producers dealing with phototrophic cultivation as a sustainable strategy for the environmental impact reduction.

Can we associate environmental footprints with production and consumption using Monte Carlo simulation? Case study with pork meat.

BACKGROUND: Growing population demands more animal protein products. Pork remains one of the traditional and relatively sustainable types of meats for human consumption. In this paper, life-cycle assessment was performed using data from 12 pig farms. In parallel, a survey on the consumption of pork meat products was conducted analyzing responses from 806 pork meat consumers. The study aims to provide a quantitative calculation of six environmental footprints associated with the consumption of pork meat products in Serbia by analyzing data from pig farms and a pork meat consumption survey. RESULTS: Results revealed that pork meat production is responsible for the emission of 3.50 kg CO2e kg-1 live weight, 16.1 MJe kg-1 , 0.151 mg R11e kg-1 , 31.257 g SO2e kg-1 , 55.030 g PO4e kg-1 and 3.641 kg 1.4 dBe kg-1 . Further calculations reveal that weekly emissions of various environmental potentials associated with an average consumer of pork meat products in Serbia are estimated at values of 4.032 kg CO2e week-1 , 18.504 MJe week-1 , 0.17435 mg R11e week-1 , 35.972 g SO2e week-1 and 63.466 g PO4e week-1 . CONCLUSIONS: Results show that, on the one hand, pork products are responsible for environmental production impacts that mainly occur on farms while, on the other hand, consumption is characterized with high meat inclusion rates. As a leverage strategy it is recommended for producers to concentrate on lowering the production impacts rather than trying to reach consumers for sustainability conciseness. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

High-pressure processing of usually discarded dry aged beef trimmings for subsequent processing.

In this study, we investigated if the usually discarded trimmings from dry aged beef can be incorporated into raw fermented sausages as a substitute for fresh beef without altering any major characteristics. Dry aged trimmings were subjected to high-pressure processing (600 MPa, 3 min hold) to reduce the bacterial load, achieving a 3-log reduction. HPP-treated dry aged beef trimmings were then incorporated into raw fermented sausages (60% pork and 40% beef). Beef was substituted with trimmings in different concentrations (7.5, 12.5, 25, 50, 100%). Due to the substitution, the water content of the sausages was reduced depending on the amount of beef substituted. Consequently, the sausages with substituted beef, for example, 50 and 100%, achieved the same water content after 5.4 and 3.7 days, respectively, than control sausage at day 9. However, the substitution (100%) affected the fat content, which contributes to significant differences (p < .05) in firmness during ripening.

Bio-refinery of Chlorella sorokiniana with pulsed electric field pre-treatment.

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of PEF technology for green extraction of microalgal pigments and lipids from fresh Chlorella sorokiniana suspensions. Efficiencies of PEF treatment and different solvent systems application to C.sorokiniana were compared to efficiencies of untreated biomass extraction. Differences in chlorophyll extraction of untreated and PEF treated C.sorokiniana were only seen at short extraction times. Beneficial PEF-effect was minimised for long-time extractions of larger algae quantities where yields aligned. Extraction attempts on C. sorokiniana lipids did not show increased extractability after PEF treatment, which underlined the statement of PEF representing a rather ineffective disruption method for microalgae holding rigid cell walls.

Discrete Choice Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Meathybrids-Findings from Germany and Belgium.

High levels of meat consumption are increasingly being criticised for ethical, environmental and social reasons. Plant-based meat substitutes have been identified as healthy sources of protein that, in comparison to meat, offer a number of social, environmental and health benefits and may play a role in reducing meat consumption. However, there has been a lack of research on the role they can play in the policy agenda and how specific meat substitute attributes can influence consumers to partially replace meat in their diets. This paper is focused on consumers' preferences for so-called meathybrid or plant-meathybrid products. In meathybrids, only a fraction of the meat product (e.g., 20% to 50%) is replaced with plant-based proteins. Research demonstrates that in many countries, consumers are highly attached to meat and consider it as an essential and integral element of their daily diet. For these consumers that are not interested in vegan or vegetarian alternatives as meat substitutes, meathybrids could be a low-threshold option for a more sustainable food consumption behaviour. In this paper, the results of an online survey with 500 German and 501 Belgian consumers are presented. The results show that more than fifty percent of consumers substitute meat at least occasionally. Thus, about half of the respondents reveal an eligible consumption behaviour with respect to sustainability and healthiness, at least sometimes. The applied discrete choice experiment demonstrated that the analysed meat products are the most preferred by consumers. Nonetheless, the tested meathybrid variants with different shares of plant-based proteins took the second position followed by the vegetarian-based alternatives. Therefore, meathybrids could facilitate the diet transition of meat-eaters in the direction toward a more healthy and sustainable consumption. The analysed consumer segment is more open-minded to the meathybrid concept in comparison to the vegetarian substitutes.

Estimation of the economy of heterotrophic microalgae- and insect-based food waste utilization processes.

An estimation of the economy of Hermetia illucens and Chlorella pyrenoidosa cultivations as food waste treatment with benefits was carried out. For both organisms, a process scale was assumed to treat 56.3 t of wet food waste per day, which is equivalent to the amount of food waste appearing in a catchment area of 141,000 inhabitants. Using hypothetical insect and heterotrophic microalgae cultivation processes, a daily production of 3.64 t and 7.14 t dried biomass, respectively, can be achieved. For the cultivation of H. illucens, equipment and daily operational costs were estimated at 79,358.15 € and 5,281.56 €, respectively. Equipment and operational costs for the C. pyrenoidosa cultivation was 50 and 6 times higher, respectively. The higher costs reflect the more complex and advanced process compared to H. illucens cultivation. The internal return rate for a plant lifetime of 20 times revealed an economic benefit when C. pyrenoidosa biomass is produced. Nevertheless, both processes were found economically feasible when dried biomass is directly commercialized as food without any further downstream processing. However, extraction and purification of special chemicals, such as unsaturated fatty acids and pigments, can significantly increase the revenue.