Jan 6, 2025
Sustainability of plant-based meat alternatives
Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
In this episode, researchers discuss the environmental, health, and economic tradeoffs that limit the potential benefits of plant-based meat alternatives.
In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:19] Rodolphe Barrangou explains the potential opportunities
and challenges for plant-based meat alternatives to help mitigate
the environmental impact of meat.
•[03:18] Marco Springmann compares plant-based meat and milk
alternatives with both animal-sourced foods and unprocessed
plant-based foods across multiple metrics.
•[05:16] Bill Aimutis highlights the potential environmental impact
of producing plant-based proteins.
•[07:04] Ute Weisz finds significant variability in the amino acid
scores and functional properties of commercially available plant
protein ingredients.
•[08:51] Zachary Neuhofer analyzes trends in plant-based meat
alternative consumption, based on two years of grocery store
scanning data.
•[10:16] Evelyne Selberherr analyzes the microbial communities
found in plant-based meat alternative products.
•[11:56] Matin Qaim analyzes the impact of animal-sourced foods on
child nutrition in five Sub-Saharan African countries.
•[13:59] Final thoughts and conclusion.
About Our Guests:
Rodolphe Barrangou
Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor
North Carolina State University
Marco Springmann
Senior Researcher | Professorial Research Fellow
University of Oxford | University College London
Bill Aimutis
Executive Director
North Carolina Food Innovation Lab
Ute Weisz
Professor
Technical University of Munich
Zachary Neuhofer
PhD Candidate
Purdue University
Evelyne Selberherr
Assistant Professor
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
Matin Qaim
Schlegel Professor of Agricultural Economics
University of Bonn
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2400495121
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2319010121
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2319003121
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2319019121
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-16996-5
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41538-024-00269-8
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2319009121
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