Research Topic: Developing cheese analogs from yeast grown on a substrate made from corn plant waste
Abstract: ** Lecture will be given in English**
The global population is rapidly increasing, accompanied by an even greater rise in animal-based products consumption. Growing environmental and health concerns have therefore increased the demand for alternative and sustainable protein sources. At the same time, the underutilization of agricultural biomass represents a significant environmental challenge. In corn production, more than 50%dw of the plant biomass is not consumed by humans, but mostly by animals or is wasted.
In this study, we developed a process for converting corn plant biomass (CPB), used as a model agricultural waste stream, into a nutrient-rich medium for yeast cultivation. The resulting CPB-based medium was used to cultivate the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica. Following cultivation, proteins were extracted from the yeast biomass and used as a base to develop a cheese analog.
The CPB-based medium contained approximately five-fold higher sugar and seven-fold higher protein concentrations than the conventional yeast cultivation medium YPD. Following adaptation, the CPB-based medium supported faster yeast growth than YPD. Yeast cells were subsequently disrupted by high-pressure homogenization, resulting in the release of approximately 70% of the available protein. Cheese analogs produced using the extracted yeast protein were evaluated using texture analyzer and exhibited textural properties comparable to those of commercial ricotta cheese.
Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of agricultural biomass as a nutrient-rich substrate for microbial cultivation and subsequent production of alternative protein ingredients. Further development of the cheese-analog formulation and production process is required to improve its sensory properties and enable the development of analogs for a broader range of cheese types.
