INNOVATION - SOWING THE SEED
ON THE PLANT
PROTEIN PATH…
BITTER BUT SWEET
Is rapeseed the next protein source for human nutrition?
With food demand set to double by 2050, the
apeseed doesn’t just
search for alternative proteins will increase
Rcontain oil but high-quality
protein, too. However,
at breakneck speeds. Innovative, new food
protein extracts from
sources provide extensive opportunities for
rapeseed have an intense, bitter
off-taste. A team led by food chemist
Thomas Hofmann has now identified
the substance that is pivotal for the
bitter taste. This is a first step towards
developing rapeseed for the human
protein supply.
According to the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), the demand for food will
approximately double by 2050 due
to the growing world population.
“Bottlenecks are to be expected in
this context, particularly in protein
supply,” says Thomas Hofmann, who
heads the Chair of Food Chemistry
and Molecular Sensory Science at the
Technical University of Munich (TUM).
According to Hofmann, who is also
director of the Leibniz-Institute for
Food Systems Biology, it is therefore
important to develop new plant protein
sources for human nutrition. And
rapeseed is a good delete source.
Rapeseed contains
high-quality protein
Rapeseed doesn’t just contain oil
but high-quality protein too, which
contains many essential amino
acids. Worldwide around 1.12
million tons of crude protein are
produced annually from rapeseed
oil. Although farmers have long
used this so-called rapeseed cake
as a protein feed for animals, it
has not played a role as a protein
source in human nutrition so far.
One reason is that the
food manufacturers in tomorrow’s world.
Kaempferol 3-O-(2’’’-O-sinapoyl-β-sophorosid)
22 MARCH 2019