Microbes: Food for the Future

The current food chain ensures a net excess of protein and calories, yet more than 800 million people are afflicted by food scarcity, more than 2 billion people suffer from malnutrition and the environmental costs of food production are no longer sustainable. We need to “rethink the whole agri-food system”. In particular, the consumption trend of animal products will be a key determinant to avoid further biodiversity losses, reduce adverse impacts on soil, water and atmosphere and to mitigate climate change, as the livestock sector appropriates 80% of agricultural land (4.0 out of 5.1 billion hectares) and accounts for a large share of the total agricultural water footprint, GHGs emissions and total nitrogen use. Disrupting technologies are urgently needed to improve the efficiency of the food production system and reduce the negative externalities of agriculture and particularly of meat production. Among these, the production of microbial protein (MP) in controlled and intensive systems called “bioreactors”, is receiving increasing interest from research and industry, since it does not require arable land, does not directly compete with crop-based food commodities and uses fertilizers with an almost 100% efficiency. Here we describe and briefly discuss the prospects and limitations of four MP sources (hydrogen oxidizing bacteria, methanotrophs, fungi and cyanobacteria) that are tested at pilot level by industry or already sold as food and food ingredients in niche markets.