Meat from peas and oats!
Come and see the food of the future created by Estonian scientists.
On February 1, at 1:00 p.m., a seminar will begin in TFTAK organized by TVIK – Innovation Cluster for Plant Proteins where researchers present results of four different research topics.
The seminar puts an end to the Innovation Cluster for Plant Proteins, which was launched in 2019 to investigate in four years which protein-rich crops make the most sense to grow in Estonia, considering the world’s ever-increasing food and climate crisis.
The key question of the cluster’s various cooperation and research and development projects was whether it is possible to create new food products from raw materials that grow right here in Estonia – oats, peas, and field beans. In addition to enriching the food table, they wanted to find an answer as to whether the environmental footprint of food production can be reduced with new meat and dairy product analogs.
Crop selection and suitability for protein isolation
Isolation, concentration, and characterization of plant proteins
Development of extrusion technology for plant proteins
Development of technology for fermented plant milks
The results of the cluster’s four years of work can literally be tasted for yourself in the TFTAK laboratory. Because of the cooperation projects of the cluster, after the development of technologies, real products have already reached the store shelves. For example, vegetable cutlets and alternative dairy products of the Deary brand Vuust and vegetable spreads.
TFTAK researcher Mari-Liis Tammik: “It is obvious that we have to find economically more reasonable uses for oats, peas and field peas than growing them only for animal feed. As part of the project, we came to an understanding of what properties new materials, mainly vegetable protein powders, must have in order to be able to develop tasty products from them. We approached the goals based on science, and it’s great to see that our work has borne fruit – innovative meat alternatives made from oats and peas are already on store shelves today.”
At 14:20, moderator Rain Kuldjärv will host a panel discussion “Food of the Future”, where researchers and their partners will discuss which new and exciting foods will reach our table in the near or distant future.
In addition, two tours of the TFTAK laboratories will be organized for those interested, the first of which starts at 11 a.m. and the second at 3 p.m.
The Plant Proteins Innovation Cluster project of the NGO received support from the “Innovation Cluster” measure of the “Estonian Rural Development Plan 2014-2020”.
