What challenge is tackling this project?
Food production is one of the main sources of GHG emissions on our planet: it accounts for more than 26 percent of global GHG emissions. More specifically, animal-related products account for 60% of food emissions representing 15,6% of the global GHG emissions. Due to the increase in the standard of living and the massive industrialization of breeding and agriculture, our meat consumption has increased significantly in 200 years: for instance, in France, it was multiplied by 5, from 20 to 100 kilograms per year, and human.
The main nutritious intake of animal-based products is proteins. Proteins are essential for nutrition: with respect to food security, the metric of choice is generally calories per capita. However, malnutrition is often caused by a lack of protein, rather than a lack of calories. Therefore, the pivotal role of protein is becoming clear in several ways.
Proteins can be either animal or plant-based. Beef is the most emissive meat: the production of 1kg of beef proteins emits about 50kg of GHG! Chicken, the less emissive meat, still emits 5,7kg of GHG for each kilo of chicken protein produced. In comparison vegetal proteins (rice, leguminous plants, oilseeds, …) are 10 to 100 less emissive.
The most emissions of the production of animal-based proteins occur during the breeding of the animal: it represents 67% of the total emissions of the production cycle, far ahead of soil occupation (27%), animal alimentation (2%), transportation & distribution (2%). Hence the collective belief that transportation is the most emissive item of the meat value chain doesn’t hold true.
In addition, livestock exploitation is also the most important cause of deforestation and soil occupation: for instance, 91% of the land “recovered” from the Amazon rainforest is used for pasture or for the production of soybeans that will later be fed to cattle.
Furthermore, the world population is growing and so are our nutritional needs. The FAO projects a global 60% food demand increase by 2050. Plausible projections suggest the demand for animal products will increase a further 35% by 2050. If we don’t modify our eating habits, by 2050 gas emissions from the food system will represent more than half of the total global emissions associated with human activities.
GHG emissions of the livestock sector are already way too important: we need to find solutions to meet growing needs in proteins without relying on animal proteins, which are extremely GHG emissive. Alternative proteins defined as non-meat-based proteins will hence have a crucial role to play to contribute to the food transition. Demand for alternative proteins is set to surpass the demand for animal proteins by 2026. But plant proteins’ increase in production is not guaranteed: cultures are particularly exposed to climate change. We must activate any lever capable of providing proteins by mitigating our land use.
What solution does Yeasty provide?
Yeasty started from an observation: the world is facing a nutritious transition and nutritious needs increase and at the same time most food waste is not valorized. Brewer’s yeast, one of these food wastes, has very interesting properties. We waste about 5M tons of dry brewer's yeast each year. This element is too bitter to be consumed by humans, so it is :
- either thrown away and treated in sewage treatment plants as brewery’s yeast can lead to water pollution, representing a financial and environmental cost ;
- or used to feed livestock that will produce meat with reduced properties (-50% proteins, -80% fibers).
However, rejected brewery’s yeast is full of great properties: proteins, fibers, etc. So Yeasty has designed a process that can valorize this unused material and produce a new protein at the same time, helping solve the food transition and rise in food needs. Yeasty transforms it into a protein ingredient for the food industry by leveraging dry yeast potential with a simple minimal process to create an alternative protein for the food industry.
Yeasty’s process has a first phase of debittering, then a phase of drying and concentration, and the product is finally packaged. A patent is currently in process. The final product can be used for the organic food industry.
At the end of the process Yeasty provides a super flour that is :
- desirable: it is savory as it contains umami taste, which even feels a bit like roasted meat ;
- nutritious:it is protein-rich (50g of proteins for 100g of the final product) and fiber-rich (17g of fiber for 100g of the final product) ;
- scalable: the industrial process is scalable, can be internationally replicated, and its price is only 6€/kg ;
- sustainable: it offers an alternative to meat-based proteins and the main ingredients are sourced through a circular process and are minimally processed.
Why is this project important? What do we like about it?
Yeasty addresses the challenge of feeding growing humanity with sustainable, low carbon and highly nutritive products. Yeasty’s process of production of a sustainable plant-based protein can help reduce the consumption of animal protein and thus reduce related GHG emissions. In fact, reducing meat consumption is one of the most accessible and most efficient levers to reduce our carbon footprint. The pleasant taste of the protein makes it desirable. The format of the protein makes it easy to introduce in any agro-food industry. By doing a quick calculation, a human needs about 50g of proteins a day, or 18kg/year/human. If 50% of the 5M tons of dry yeast are retrieved and as 50% of the Yeasty’s flour is protein then Yeasty could produce up to 1Mt (including process losses) of protein per year, providing proteins for 55 million of humans.
Then, Yeasty has great development potential as it is valorizing an existing byproduct that is costly for brewers.
What are your main concerns? In your opinion, which external negativities are keys to control for this project?
Yeasty has to pay attention to market prioritization: for instance, cosmetics & pet food could be attracted by Yeast’y protein flour but are way less impactful. It is important that Yeasty focuses on human nutrition as it is the most essential and emissive sector right now.
Then production processes are not environmentally neutral. They demand energy, new industrial machines, logistics, and additional raw materials… The drying process is particularly energy-intensive as it demands heat. In this process, heat is often produced with gas, a fossil energy. Electric drying machines already exist but are often more expensive than gas processes. Yeasty is aware of its negative externalities and designs its process to minimize its footprint.
Yeasty also has to be careful about rebound effects: Yeasty’s protein is meant to replace animal protein, not to create a new product in the food industry used in addition to meat. Yeasty’s CEO is well aware of the risk of the rebound effect: “The only way to supply food sustainably to the world is by producing better, not more”.
Any follow-up questions? Want to talk directly to the founders?
Please, join their dedicated Discord channel: https://discord.gg/7tND5PV4mc
About Cardashift
Cardashift enables citizens-investors to build the world of tomorrow.
Our first product is a community-run launchpad that raises funds, builds, and accelerates startups that are solving social and environmental issues. Cardashift is based on Cardano, the blockchain platform for change-makers, innovators, and visionaries.
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