Beyond Traditional Proteins: Assessing the Potential of Jellyfish and Cultured Meat as Alternative Proteins
Abstract: ** Lecture will be given in English**
Population growth, health and sustainability considerations feed a growing demand for edible proteins. The development of such food choices requires careful balancing of pragmatic considerations, like accessibility, scale of production and affordability, with ethical, environmental and health concerns related to matters such as animal welfare, sustainability and nutritional values. This study evaluated the nutritional, techno-functional, and digestive properties of two emerging proteins: cultured meat and the invasive Mediterranean jellyfish Rhopilema nomadica.
First, the digestibility of a cultured meat platform based on chickpea protein-derived edible microcarriers was investigated and compared with commercial beef sausage. The prototypes exhibited attenuated protein digestion with chickpea-derived peptides predominating digestive effluents. Second, Jellyfish, collected and harvested from a local power plant, were found to possess 10.8%w/w of protein, with collagen identified as the dominant protein. Although freeze dried jellyfish showed promising rheological properties and potential as a food thickener, elevated heavy metal levels and limited protein digestibility highlighted important nutritional and safety challenges.
Thus, this work presents evidence that Jellyfish and cultured meat show potential as sustainable protein alternatives yet stresses out a need for further optimization of their nutritional quality, digestibility, and food application potential.
