Project

Sustainability assessment of meat analogue production

Meat production is unsustainable and inefficient with respect to the use of land, water and raw materials. A route to reduce meat consumption is the development of plant-based meat analogues, whereby meat analogues that closely resemble meat are most likely to be accepted by consumers. Recently, Wageningen University and the Technical University of Delft jointly developed a novel technology that can be used for the production of fibrous, plant-based meat analogues. Meat analogues produced using this technology have a structure that resembles meat better than commercial products that are currently available. Therefore, these meat analogues could form the basis of the next generation of meat analogues. Some researchers analysed the sustainability of meat analogue production. However, a complete sustainability assessment of the production of the next generation meat analogue is not performed yet.

Aim

The aim of this project is to assess the sustainability of the production of the next generation of meat analogues. The outcomes can be used for optimization of the production efficiency and the development of novel technological routes for the production of meat analogues.

Approach

Figure 1 illustrates the production process of the next generation meat analogues using different raw materials. The sustainability of this production chain will be assessed and compared with the sustainability of meat and meat replacers currently on the market. Furthermore, the nutritional value of the product will be considered, by including nutrient bioavailability and absorption in the exergy analysis.

BSc/MSc thesis

Are you interested in this topic? Then do not hesitate to contact me or drop by to talk about current opportunities for your thesis!