Protein From Deserts 10 Times Cheaper Than Beef

[Eclipse Now]

PROTEIN! From deserts! 10 times cheaper but ONE THOUSAND times more productive than ANY other protein source. Forget eating insects: if this is true, we can supply the world's PROTEIN needs from an area the size of Rhode Island (60km wide by 70km long), or slightly larger than Sydney. The WORLD's protein. From deserts. Did I mention deserts? And 60km by 70km? And 10 times cheaper? This had *better* not just be a grant-raising exercise....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WedLHPoNMms

[Ahmabeliever]

That's amazing. Our culture techniques of microbes (numbers and types) are improving and coupled with metabolomics the potential is very clearly seen in this clip. So clever searching the photosynthetic organisms to enable energy 'free' production. This is a game changer, I am surprised nobody else has commented.

[labelwench]

Perhaps the reason that no one has commented is that the presentation reeked of 'infomercial', at least to me.

 

I subsequently spent a few minutes searching and found this link...

 

http://www.pharmamedtechbi.com/publications/the-tan-sheet/22/8/pronutria-gains-125-million-funding-for-protein-product-trials

 

 

Pronutria Gains $12.5 Million Funding For Protein Product Trials

By Alex Lash / Email the Author / View Full Issue
Business & Finance / Word Count: 817 / Article # 05140224007 / Posted: February 24 2014 12:00 AM

Executive Summary

 

The start-up developer of medical foods and supplements is conducting clinical trials on two candidates to stave off muscle loss in elderly people. The firm soon may begin development of therapeutic product candidates with a separate business unit.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, if you want to read the rest of the article, a fee of $50.00 is required.

 

It may be a great business opportunity for some, especially those benefiting from all of the funding and financing but I expect it will be some time yet before this research benefits anyone.

 

Perhaps I am just cynical but the old adage, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is", may very well apply in this case. I'd gamble on insects first, lol, as they have been a source of protein for many cultures throughout history.

 

 

 

 

[Gregb]

Beef is really a terrible way to get protein. Cows are very polluting and need massive resources to farm. I try to stick to fish and soy.

[labelwench]

I have a problem with farmed fish impacting the habitat and health of the wild stocks. Given the overall state of our oceans being used as a dumping ground, I'm pretty much at the point of not eating anything that comes out of the ocean anymore. I do enjoy halibut a couple of times a year, caught wild off the coast of Alaska, but I am not delusional enough to think that it does not also contain heavy metals and other toxins. (As a former co-chair of the Yukon Fish & Wildlife Management Board, I can report that we had many and long debates on the topic of farmed fish and their impacts, both observed and potential concerns.)

 

Factory farmed beef is not very environmentally friendly, I agree, yet a few grass fed cows can get by on land that is marginal and not suited to any other use. It really depends upon where in the world one lives to determine what animal proteins are cost effective and environmentally sustainable.

 

Fermented soy has been shown to be beneficial, but not so all of the many processed soy products.

 

http://thedeliciousrevolution.com/cleanse/why-avoid-soy/

[Ahmabeliever]

I agree with much of what is being said. It was a bit of an infomercial but the concept is really good. 

 

Living in a dairying nation you don't need to tell me about cows. "Clean Green New Zealand" they market it but 90% of our waterways aren't fit for swimming let alone drinking. Some noise from the public, some empty gestures by business - the usual ramping up of production at all costs out-stripping the environmental policies handily... Erm, scuse me.

 

Fish culture via herbivorous fish, or insects -> carnivores, or.... fish that directly graze microbial biofilms... I don't think this has been explored as a commercial option yet. It could be very efficient. 

 

Insect culture is a lot more efficient than cow culture when it comes to converting plant matter to protein. But a microbial community incorporating photosynthetic and N fixing microbes could do what the 'infomercial' states, make high quality protein out of practically nothing - Sea water they said. The oceans bloom with photosynthetic N fixing cyanobacteria every year which provides the basis of many of the oceans food chains. The microbes in the ocean vary but numbers in the pelagic zone where this occurs are typically very low in comparison to what they can become as cold upwellings bring nutrients to warmer surface waters. 

 

These guys don't have this sewn up at all. I could find a new microbial strain near every time I looked if I sampled well enough and sequenced deep enough. Viruses and horizontal gene transfer ensure the genetic variance of prokaryotes to be relatively infinite. 

 

To set up something for a food supply you could search existing gene banks of cultured cyanobacteria (the ones with names not numbers) for the genes required to produce all the essential aminos. Screen out all known toxins etc, then start culturing and testing your candidates. One major hurdle in microbial culture is harvest. A microbial mat could be scraped mechanically dislodging large particles to allow easier filtration and removal. To this end I'd be looking for community members (genes) for attachment pili and extra-cellular polysaccharide matrix constituents as well.

 

The concept and execution are both relatively simple. The selection of desired/filtering out of unwanted genes could take a long time unless someone has made a program for it. The culture stage you could run a whole bunch side by side so you'd know fairly quickly which community was better for harvest. 

 

Scuse me, I love this stuff. :)

[labelwench]

I grant that this is a very interesting avenue of exploration and possibly the potential for healthier nutrition. It really remains to be seen what form this research takes when it comes time to check it out at the dinner table. It's not that easy to even get people to eat fruits and vegetables.

 

They would probably do well to synthesize this nutrient and piggy-back it on potato and corn chips, thereby fortifying foods that consumers are happy to gobble down like suids. They could go in the 'healthier options aisle' where we stock all of the organic and sodium reduced snacks. Interestingly, most of those snacks contain virtually as many calories, merely derived from different sources so it's not like they are really much 'healthier'. They also cost quite a bit more.

 

People are either very gullible or not well informed on these matters.

[Ahmabeliever]

The market is already full of microbially fortified foods. It's everywhere.

[labelwench]

The market is already full of microbially fortified foods. It's everywhere.

 

Not the products under discussion in the opening thread.

 

They are still in the testing stage as of February 24, 2014.

 

http://www.pharmamedtechbi.com/publications/the-tan-sheet/22/8/pronutria-gains-125-million-funding-for-protein-product-trials

 

Edited to add another link. This does not look terribly optimistic and it does confirm that they had no products on the market at the time of the reviews.

 

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Pronutria-Reviews-E660569.htm

Edited May 2, 2014 by Under the Rose

[Ahmabeliever]

Yes, the infomercial guys have great ideas, but they're getting pretty specific about what they're trying to do, it will take time, they may fail, it is certainly possible to make designer microbial products though, this is how many drugs are made. Perhaps they should have stuck to getting one thing right, instead of an overly-optimistic sales pitch.

 

I work in microbiology, currently in the human gut microbiota. Microbes have fascinated me for their efficiency potentials for a long time. 

 

I should have given some indication of what I was talking about (microbial foodstuffs) but had to dash off for a meeting. Rennet in cheese is a good example of microbes in the market. There are a lot of processed foods with microbial components, though it is not my area my  supervisor could rattle off a whole list of them quite handily.

 

A crossover for my research and microbe food is that some microbes produce specific sugars that enhance beneficial bacteria. We can culture and harvest this stuff quite readily, and it has great ramifications for human health. It's what they're calling pre-biotics - typically long chain sugars or recalcitrant plant components that enhance beneficial species. Synergism can be obtained with pre and probiotics too, though the combos take a bit of teasing out I'm sure.

 

Anyways, I'm not so impressed by the concept of sweet proteins etc as the 'advertisers' are. But microbes as a food source has a lot of weight, just not literally ;)

 

 

[Ahmabeliever]

I grant that this is a very interesting avenue of exploration and possibly the potential for healthier nutrition. It really remains to be seen what form this research takes when it comes time to check it out at the dinner table. It's not that easy to even get people to eat fruits and vegetables.

 

They would probably do well to synthesize this nutrient and piggy-back it on potato and corn chips, thereby fortifying foods that consumers are happy to gobble down like suids. They could go in the 'healthier options aisle' where we stock all of the organic and sodium reduced snacks. Interestingly, most of those snacks contain virtually as many calories, merely derived from different sources so it's not like they are really much 'healthier'. They also cost quite a bit more.

 

People are either very gullible or not well informed on these matters.

That microbial sugar I mentioned, it is being pondered if they could piggy-back it on junk food. Wise minds think alike in this instance at least.

[arissa]

Beef is really a terrible way to get protein. Cows are very polluting and need massive resources to farm. I try to stick to fish and soy.

 

That is part of the reason I seldom eat it. I know many others who don't really care what they put into their body. I am not sure if I could manage to get all of my protein from that route though, I would end up having to workout every day just to burn off some of those extra calories.

[Turtle]

All-in-all, humans are omnivores. While there are legitimate concerns with meat production, it is not meat itself that is the problem. Eat a balanced diet and don't stuff yourself like a pig. Everything in moderation.