Scaling-up nutritional proteins from alternative sources

Expected Outcome:Successful proposals will contribute to the implementation of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and its action plan, the EU Industrial strategy, the Circular Economy Action Plan, Europe’s food security and Farm2Fork strategy ambition as well as the Food 2030 pathways as well as the EU Initiative on Biotech and Biomanufacturing.

Projects results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• Increased availability of sustainably sourced nutritional proteins.
• Increased resilience of food systems via diversification of protein sources.
• Contribution to the sustainability of food systems in terms of resource consumption within planetary boundaries (land use, water use, energy consumption, nitrogen cycle, other nutrients).
• Improved consumers’ awareness and acceptance of proteins from alternative sources, contributing to sustainable healthy diets.

Scope:The overarching challenge of ensuring sufficient sustainable availability of proteins for human and animal nutrition is far from being solved. The shift towards sustainably sourced alternative proteins can contribute to building food system resilience. If the proteins are sourced locally, this can also reduce dependency on protein imports as highlighted in the European Protein Strategy. Many alternative protein sources already exist and increasing R&I efforts is needed to boost their uptake as a key nutritional food ingredient, while ensuring safety and acceptability to consumers/end-users. Previous R&I projects, dealing with alternative proteins, have been mainly focused on studying new production technologies, providing relevant contribution to developing new knowledge. There is still the need to foster innovation by scaling-up processes enabling to respond to end-user needs, decreasing production costs and improving circularity[1].

Proposals under this topic should:

• Demonstrate innovative processes for the extraction and/or production of proteins for application as nutritional food, starting from alternative sources. The scope covers proteins from plants, invertebrates, microorganisms, fungi, aquatic biomass, fermentation of bio-based feedstock (including biogenic gaseous carbon). Proposals should target nutritional proteins for food; the co-production of other bio-based product(s) including feed is also in scope via the cascading approach. Pure proteins, protein-rich mixtures and protein-enriched ingredients are in scope[2].
• Address efficient and cost-effective downstream separation and purification processes (when applicable), to meet the targeted quality and stability for final applications.
• Demonstrate nutritional adequacy of the targeted product(s) and their effect on food formulation(s) according to established testing procedures. Additional properties (e.g., prevention of intolerances/allergies[3], improved digestibility, etc…) are also in scope depending on the application.
• Address resource efficiency and circularity aspects to increase economic and socio-environmental added value. When pursuing circular models, ensure that neither pathogens nor contaminants are injected back in the loop, to ensure no negative toxicological effects.

In addition to the specific requirements applicable for the type of action, as described in section 2.2.3.1 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2025[4], proposals under this topic should:

• Test the safety of developed proteins and formulations through toxicological tests, in line with EU regulatory requirements and EFSA guidelines. Moreover, identify potential regulatory gaps and provide recommendations to overcome potential bottlenecks.
• Include a task on consumer awareness and acceptance: involve end-users (including consumers) starting from the early stages to assess market acceptance of the novel proteins and incorporate insights in product development.
• Ensure complementarities with past and ongoing R&I projects addressing similar challenges, including projects funded under Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe and by the BBI JU / CBE JU[5].

[1] Food 2030 - Pathways for action 2.0 : R&I policy as a driver for sustainable, healthy, climate resilient and inclusive food systems - European Commission

[2] At least 50% in weight protein content

[3] Taking into account the opinions of EFSA: EFSA Journal 2022;20(5):7258. EFSA Journal 2022; 20(7):7325. EFSA Journal 2021:19(1):6343. EFSA Journal 2021;19(7):6667; EFSA Journal 2021;19(7):6667.

[4] https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents

[5] For example, from Horizon 2020 projects: SMART PROTEIN, NEXTGENPROTEINS, SUSINCHAIN, PROFUTURE; from BBI/CBE-JU IA projects: SYLPLANT, PLENITUDE, ALEHOOP. ZEST. The list is not exhaustive.