Food protein is an important nutrient for humans, and the existing protein supply mainly depends on the cultivation and breeding industries. With the growth of population and economic development, the demand for food protein will increase by 30% to 50% by 2050. The supply of traditional food protein is facing severe tests in terms of quantity, quality and sustainability, improving the efficiency of protein production and conversion, and building Sustainable high-quality protein supply models are imminent. At the same time, with the improvement of public health awareness, people have put forward higher requirements for the sustainability and nutritional value of diet. The alternative protein industry has become an important tool to meet future food needs with its environmentally friendly and nutritious and healthy advantages. . In just a few years, the alternative protein industry has achieved rapid development. According to Boston Consulting, the alternative protein market is expected to reach US$ 290 billion by 2035 . Among them, China's alternative protein market is growing at a relatively fast rate. Relevant data show that the scale of China's alternative protein market will reach 11.8 billion yuan this year, showing strong growth potential.

Enterprises accelerate their connection to market demand

　　In recent years, my country has continuously introduced relevant policies to support the development of the alternative protein industry. For example, the " 14th Five-Year Plan " National Agricultural and Rural Science and Technology Development Plan proposes to study the cultivation and manufacturing technology of nutritious foods such as cell culture meat, synthetic egg cream, and functional recombinant proteins, and promote the use of agricultural product resources at a high level and component mutual benefit Technical innovations such as production and quality control, mining of new food resources, food big data, food omics, functional food, molecular food creation, food hazard monitoring and evaluation; the " 14th Five-Year Plan for Bioeconomic Development" clearly states that development The bioeconomy is an important direction to adapt to the accelerated evolution trend of global biotechnology and achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance. We must develop synthetic biological technology, explore and develop new foods such as " artificial protein " , realize the iterative upgrade of the food industry, and reduce the traditional breeding industry. environmental resource pressure.

　　At the same time, the alternative protein industry is accelerating the cultivation and development of new quality productivity and actively connecting with market demand.

　　For example, Jiangxi Fuxiang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a company focusing on microbial proteins and biofermentation and synthetic proteins. The company's subsidiary Fuxiang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the industrialization of microbial proteins, with an annual output of 1,200 tons. The microbial protein production line is already being produced normally. It is particularly worth mentioning that the " Fusarium short-stalked " strain developed by the company not only obtained national patent authorization, but also applied for patent protection for PCT in 8 countries simultaneously.

　　Microalgae are also one of the key sources of alternative proteins. At present, many companies in my country have intervened in this track and have achieved certain achievements. Beijing Yuanyu Biotechnology Co., Ltd. uses the characteristics of microalgae that can inhibit oxygen growth to produce microalgae cells through fermentation.

　　Microalgae are single-cell plant cells. The traditional culture method is generally outdoor farming, which is easily affected by the environmental climate, resulting in a very low overall yield. At present, the production capacity of microalgae in my country is about 10,000 tons. Therefore, compared with other protein sources, microalgae determines that it is currently impossible to enter the alternative protein industry in a large number of commercialized forms. Yuanyu Bio has achieved the use of 100 mu of land, with an annual output of about 10,000 tons of algae biomass. After solving the first step of how to obtain a large amount of microalgae biomass, companies face the problem of how to extract proteins from cells and then extract and purify them. There are very few data methods that can be referred to at the entire scientific research level. The company has referred to many mature plant proteins, microbial proteins, and animal protein extraction methods. Currently, the purity of its microalgae protein products can reach 60%-90% . In addition, the company has developed the world's first cup of microalgae plant milk, which is expected to be launched at the end of the year.

Industrial development still faces some challenges

　　Today, the taste of plant-based burgers is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from traditional meats. Microorganisms are converting biomass into more proteins and other key ingredients, and cultured meat is moving from laboratories to pilot production facilities, attracting researchers, Food giants and investors are widely concerned. But while alternative proteins provide promising solutions to environmental and health problems, their market acceptance remains a challenge. Consumers' taste, texture and nutritional value of alternative proteins differ from traditional meat products, which affects their market acceptance.

　　In this regard, Chen Junshi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and general consultant of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, once pointed out that the main challenges facing the current industrial development include taste, price and cost issues. " Take the alternative protein products that have appeared in China as an example, which are mainly some cell cultured meat, so they cannot meet the needs of consumers in terms of taste. Moreover, the high-cost market application promotion is also very limited. " Chen Junshi believes that solving these problems will be solved On the one hand, we must rely on science and technology and innovation, but also require efforts from all aspects. In our country, we especially need correct guidance from the government, research carried out by the academic community, and accelerated innovation by enterprises.

　　In the view of Li Ning, director of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center and vice chairman of the China Food Science and Technology Society, the development of the new protein industry requires improvement of consumers' health awareness and policy support. " Both are very important. On the one hand, new proteins need to be recognized and accepted by consumers. New proteins meet the needs of the consumer market, but to be accepted by consumers, popular science is needed.

　　Li Ning also believes that my country's current policies in food safety supervision are not enough to support the development of the new protein industry, and in the future, standards are required to be formulated and revised to adapt to the development of new proteins.

　　" The entire policy, requirements and technologies of food safety supervision also need to keep up with the requirements of industrial development. " Li Ning said that, like other emerging industries, alternative proteins worldwide face problems such as consumer recognition, food safety supervision and policies and regulations. . From a regulatory perspective, the current focus of supervision is mainly on the safety evaluation and supervision of raw materials and additives without a history of safe use, the safety evaluation and supervision of new production processes, and the safety evaluation and supervision of whether to use genetically modified raw materials. For cell cultured meat, due to the rapid development of production technology, the regulatory policies of various countries are still based on the exploration of dietary risk assessment principles; for plant protein meat, supervision emphasizes more on compliance issues and claims issues; for microbial fermentation products, Issues such as safety evaluation and approval of transgenic strains have become the focus of global attention. According to Li Ning, the National Health Commission is also constantly doing some research and innovation, such as using artificial intelligence, big data, etc. to enhance the level of risk assessment technology to ensure the safety of new proteins being launched.

Accelerate the construction of a safety evaluation and supervision system

　　" To promote the development of China's alternative protein industry, we must build a scientific and reasonable safety evaluation and supervision system for alternative protein products that conform to China's national conditions. " Experts in the research field pointed out that China still needs to strengthen research in the following aspects.

　　First, strengthen the assessment of edible safety risks brought by new production processes. Edible safety is the prerequisite and basis for market access and large-scale production of alternative proteins in my country. Hazard factor identification, feature analysis, hazard assessment, exposure assessment and risk characterization technologies are the key to proving its edible safety risks. However, my country has not yet systematically built a key technical system for edible safety evaluation in the development and application of alternative proteins, and lacks basic scientific data on risk assessment. It is necessary to study the analysis and identification and feature analysis technologies of key chemical components brought by the new production process, study toxicological evaluation hazard assessment, intake assessment and risk characterization technologies, and build a technology system for alternative protein food safety evaluation that is suitable for my country's national conditions.

　　Secondly, strengthen the total nutritional evaluation of alternative proteins. Alternative protein products provide a new solution for human energy and nutritional sources. The content and composition of the protein in the product determine the quality of its protein, and the nutritional and healthy effects determine its edible characteristics and market positioning. At present, since many alternative protein products in my country are still in the laboratory or pilot stage, there is a lack of full nutrition evaluation of alternative protein products, it is urgently necessary to build a technical system for full nutrition evaluation of alternative proteins based on overall strategies.

　　In addition, accelerate the evaluation of the use of gene-edited raw materials. The production process of alternative proteins involves possible accumulation of cellular gene mutations, strain mutation decline, etc. Given the experience and lessons learned in the management of genetically modified products, it is urgent to strengthen the identification and evaluation of the potential risks of the use of gene editing raw materials. At present, my country has issued the "Guidelines for Safety Evaluation of Gene Editing Plants for Agricultural Use (Trial)" to conduct classified supervision of gene-edited organisms. The safety evaluation of gene-edited microorganisms lacks systematic research and basic data, and it is urgently necessary to accelerate the safety evaluation procedures of gene-edited microorganisms and promote the development of my country's alternative protein industry.

　　" The development of the new protein industry not only requires market recognition, but also consumer recognition. This includes safety and nutrition, so it is very important for the government and enterprises to work together to carry out popular science education. I hope that new proteins can receive positive reviews from consumers in the future . ” Li Ning said.