Spotted: Despite a well-publicised difficult year in 2023, plant-based meat is on the rise, with the global market forecast to reach revenues of $24.8 billion by 2030. But while the long-term drivers for plant-based meat look promising, many in the industry feel that the ‘mouthfeel’ of the products available today is holding the market back, as is the high cost of production.

Now, Israeli non-profit GreenProtein AI hopes to tackle both problems at once by consolidating the knowledge of alternative protein innovators to help companies find the perfect ‘extrusion’ settings for meat-like plant-based protein.

In the context of plant-based meat, extrusion is the process through which various protein sources are converted into an output that has the sinuous texture of meat. Today, the process is unpredictable due to the number of parameters involved, and optimising outcomes through trial and error is expensive, particularly for smaller companies. GreenProtein’s artificial intelligence (AI), could prove a game-changer in making the process more efficient and predictable.

Key to the organisation’s approach is the collation of a diverse dataset from across the entire industry through the pooling of insights from individual manufacturers and facilities. All this data feeds GreenProtein’s algorithm, enabling it to simulate the texture produced by different combinations of ingredients and parameters, identifying the optimal approach. The AI can also help minimise production waste and energy consumption, leading to more sustainable manufacturing and reduced production costs.

GreenProtein works through collaborations with plant-based meat manufacturers, laboratories, extrusion facilities, and manufacturers of extrusion equipment, all of whom stand to benefit from unique insights and the maturation of the market as a whole.

Plant-based proteins are an important part of the puzzle for providing sufficient protein to a growing world population, and Springwise’s library contains several examples of innovations seeking to make them more affordable and delicious. This includes a company that is ‘spinning’ protein fibres like textile threads, and a company eliminating inefficiencies in plant protein production.

Written By: Keely Khoury and Matthew Hempstead