FEDER - UNICAEN (EVA LAB) - SMN PROJECT
Kohesio
UNIVERSITE DE CAEN NORMANDIE
Having become a national priority, the desire to recreate "a protein sovereignty of Europe" and to "Grow more soy in France to feed livestock and thus avoid importing GMO soy" was reaffirmed very recently by President Emmanuel Macron, at the G7 summit which was held on August 29, 2019. Faced with the increase in demand for proteins intended for animal and human food (vegetarian and vegan diet), the development of the culture of oilseeds (soy, rapeseed, sunflower, pea, fava bean, lupine, flax, etc.) represents a major challenge. Thus, the development of new extractability processes on oilseeds allows, from the meal (residue obtained after oil extraction), the production of protein isolates with functional profiles optimized for several (i) food applications (tofu, tempeh, vegetable steak, mayonnaise, bakery products, vegetable juice/milk, fermented products, etc.) (Ali 2010; Von Der Haar et al. 2014) and (ii) non-food with high added value in various industrial sectors, particularly in green chemistry (protein concentrate or isolate with high emulsifying or foaming capacity, bio-sourced materials, etc.). The global production of oilseeds has seen considerable growth over the last 20 years, with in particular a doubling of soybean production to reach nearly 360 MnT in 2018 (source: FAO stats). The European Union imports 17 million tonnes (Mt) of crude vegetable proteins (soy, pulses, sunflower, etc.) each year, of which 13 Mt are based on largely GMO soy.
Smarter Europe / Research and innovation / Research and innovation activities in public research centres and centres of competence including networking