The U-Protein research programme aims to create new scientific and technological knowledge with long-term potential to re-engineer Ireland’s agro-ecological system and aid the development of a circular and regenerative bioeconomy. It proposes to achieve this through greater diversification of protein resources, delivering sustainability, circularity and quality nutrition.
Studies will examine the role of Crop and Marine resources as alternative sources of protein, with potential to generate novel biomass streams through biotransformation.
The project assumes that our natural resources can be diversified to develop alternative protein sources and create circularity through use of non- protein ‘residual biomass’. This will create an informed and diverse agri-ecosystem with a lower carbon footprint to accelerate Ireland’s path to becoming a responsible global leader in supply and knowledge of nutritious food solutions.
The programme aims to leverage well-established expertise on the nutritional and technological properties of meat and dairy proteins, and study alternative sources, selected on the basis of sustainability, land use, economics, food use, biodiversity and circularity within the supply chain.
© 2021 U-Protein. All rights reserved. The U-Protein Project has received funding from the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, under the Food Institutional Research Measure to the U-Protein project under grant no. 2019PROG702.
