Profound Threat to Natural Habitats Unless Adoption of Alternative Protein Accelerates
Copenhagen, 24 February 2022 – Unibio, the sustainable protein company, today released new research, which shows that 31 million hectares of new farmland, equivalent to all the arable land in Germany and France combined[1], would need to be planted with soy alone by 2050 to deliver the additional protein the world will need to feed itself.
COP26 – Stop deforestation
However, global leaders at the recent COP26 Climate Summit recognised the critical impact of deforestation on climate change, and one of the key commitments reached at the Summit was to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
Possible to stop deforestation
Unibio has developed a sustainable protein derived from natural microbial fermentation, which it is now producing at an industrial scale, the first company in the world to do so. With the production method it is possible to produce unlimited amounts of protein to feed the world’s growing population and prevent the deforestation.
Heavily growing population – a new solution is needed
David Henstrom, Chief Executive Officer, Unibio said: “With the global population forecast to reach almost 10 billion people by 2050, an increase of 25% of today’s population, more food will be needed than has ever been produced before in the history of the world combined to feed them. This food has to come from somewhere.
“In recent years, much of the expansion of production has come from the ‘Brazilian savannah’, the Cerrado, where one hectare of virgin Cerrado stores around 137 tons of CO2 equivalent. Protecting 31 million hectares of Cerrado would save 4,148 million tons of CO2 from being emitted – or 134 million tons/year, roughly twice Denmark’s total annual emissions. Similarly, the production of fishmeal can put undue stress on marine ecosystems with the production of just one ton of fishmeal requiring the capture and processing of around 135,000 fish[2]. Peru alone processes over 4-7 million tonnes of fish per year, equivalent to between 160 and 280 billion anchoveta.”
Let’s join forces
David Henstrom added: “We urge all global leaders to join forces in accelerating the adoption of alternative proteins, such as Unibio’s groundbreaking Uniprotein®, to help reduce the pressures of deforestation and prevent land-use change. The world is facing an unprecedented environmental stress with the threat of increased deforestation, habitat and biodiversity loss, and the accelerating damage to our ecosystems. This is why the adoption of alternative sources of protein, in order to feed the ever-growing population, is of paramount importance.”
Unibio’s innovative, continuous-flow, natural, microbial fermentation process uses its proprietary U-Loop® technology to produce Uniprotein®. Uniprotein® is a high-quality alternative protein, which can replace products such as fish meal and concentrated soya in feed for fish and other animals, such as pigs. Unibio’s technology enables production of more sustainable protein in very large and scalable volumes to help meet the world’s growing protein needs.
Uniprotein® is a close substitute to high-quality fishmeal (LT Fishmeal), but it can also substitute highly concentrated soy product, both being increasingly scarce resources. In addition, the product has been shown to be safe to use in piglet feed compound as a starter feed, in partial supplement of potato protein. Unibio’s technology has been proven at industrial scale and has been commercially shipped, for example to the Danish compound feed company, Danish Agro – who are using Uniprotein® as a fixed part of its feed mixes.
Ends[1] Source – https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/group-stats/Group-of-7-countries-(G7)/Agriculture/Arable-land/Hectares
[2] Fish = Peruvian anchoveta – source: Aquareg
For media enquiries / access to photos, please contact
Unibio
Trine Leth, Head of Communications/Kommunikationsdirektør
T: +45 23231965 / E: tl@unibiogroup.com
Notes to Editors
About Unibio
Unibio, the world’s leading sustainable protein company, uses microbial fermentation to convert methane into high quality and sustainable protein for fish and animal feed. It is Unibio’s mission to deliver sustainable protein for livestock, aquaculture, and the food of the future. Unibio’s technology is highly resource-efficient and sustainable. The process replicates the same process that happens every day in nature. Unibio is rolling out the technology globally.
About U-Loop® technology
Unibio’s patented U-Loop® technology uses a continuous-flow fermentation process to mimic a process that occurs in nature every day and uses gases, including methane to produce Uniprotein®. Through its proprietary process, microbes grow with methane as feedstock, and they are turned into single-cell protein – Uniprotein® that is subsequently treated and purified to a nutritious, high-quality feed grade. Unibio owns the intellectual property rights to the U-Loop® technology.
About Uniprotein®
Uniprotein® is a high-quality and sustainable protein on par with other high-quality proteins such as fishmeal and soy protein. The amino acid profile for Uniprotein® is very close to fishmeal. Uniprotein® has been approved for feed for terrestrial and aquatic animals in the EU and registrations globally are in progress. Uniprotein® has a high uniform quality, is free from pesticides, is fully traceable, and is non-GMO. The product has been introduced commercially drawing significant interest from customers from all over the world. The product is in development for direct human consumption.
Uniprotein® – a superior protein product known for:
- single cell protein approved for animal and fish feed in the EU
- a high protein content – above 70% in dry matter
- sustainable (alternative) protein
- usable as a direct supplement in animal feed compounds
- a highly digestible feed
- in industrial-scale production
- amino acid composition similar to fishmeal or soybean meal
- non-GMO
- deforestation-free and land conversion-free source of protein
- free from contaminants like pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and antibiotics
- easily traceable
- uniform product quality
- a long shelf life
- comes as powder or pellets
Uniprotein® will be sold through a network of distributors, as well as directly to large key accounts around the world.
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