146
need to be killed prior to consumption. There is a chance of skin reaction due to
ingestion of foreign proteins and gastrointestinal reactions might occur, which may
give rise to nausea and vomiting. There is high risk of contamination during the
process of production and cell recovery is also problematic. All these detrimental
factors lessen the acceptability of microbial protein as a potential global food
(Suman et al. 2015).
8.7 Conclusion
Indeed, microbial proteins demonstrate very promising characteristics as a nutrient
for humans. Microbial proteins possess various advantages in comparison to plant
and animal proteins due to ease of reproduction and growth that is not seasonal or
climate dependent. Microbial proteins have high protein content with wide spectrum of amino acids, low fat content and high protein to carbohydrate ratio. These
can be produced using wastes as substrates and are therefore environment friendly.
The utilization of microbial proteins as a nutrient source can resolve issues related
with food shortage of rapidly growing population especially in underdeveloped
countries. However with all of these benefits, microbial protein production has not
gained much attention due to lack of popularity as a nutrition source among people.
Furthermore, high nucleic acid content, non-digestible cell walls, unpleasant colors
and flavors and risk of contamination further limit their acceptability as a global
food. So efforts needs to be made to uncover alternate substrates and approaches
which can minimize the drawbacks of microbial protein production which consequently can lead to the acceptance of this valuable nutrient source on a global scale
(Upadhyaya et al. 2016).
Due to economic, political and practical issues, microbial protein has not become
the major supply of foodstuff protein as initially envisioned. Developed countries
do not see the need of utilizing microbial proteins because they have abundant
stocks of high value proteins due to advances in agriculture. Microbial proteins can
still be a supportive food source in tropical less developed countries where traditional food is high in carbohydrates and low in proteins. Continuing increase in
population growth rate can eventually lead to shortage of food and nutrition even
with agricultural advancement. Providing sufficient nutritious food to everyone is
going to be a daunting task for future generations. Microbial proteins despite its
current poor popularity can still be a promising solution for this problem in
the future.
Acknowledgements AKS, SKP, and MS acknowledge CSIR-India, DBT-India and DST-India
funding agencies respectively for providing financial assistance in the form of Junior Research
Fellowship. PPK acknowledges financial support from University Grants Commission, India in the
form of CSIR-UGC Senior Research fellowship. SK acknowledges University Grants Commission,
India and Department of Science and Technology, India for providing financial support in the form
of UGC-BSR Research Start-Up-Grant [No. F.30–372/2017 (BSR)] and DST-SERB Grant
[EEQ/2016/000350] respectively. SK acknowledges Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India
for providing Research Seed Money Grant [GP-25].
A. K. Singh et al.
need to be killed prior to consumption. There is a chance of skin reaction due to
ingestion of foreign proteins and gastrointestinal reactions might occur, which may
give rise to nausea and vomiting. There is high risk of contamination during the
process of production and cell recovery is also problematic. All these detrimental
factors lessen the acceptability of microbial protein as a potential global food
(Suman et al. 2015).
8.7 Conclusion
Indeed, microbial proteins demonstrate very promising characteristics as a nutrient
for humans. Microbial proteins possess various advantages in comparison to plant
and animal proteins due to ease of reproduction and growth that is not seasonal or
climate dependent. Microbial proteins have high protein content with wide spectrum of amino acids, low fat content and high protein to carbohydrate ratio. These
can be produced using wastes as substrates and are therefore environment friendly.
The utilization of microbial proteins as a nutrient source can resolve issues related
with food shortage of rapidly growing population especially in underdeveloped
countries. However with all of these benefits, microbial protein production has not
gained much attention due to lack of popularity as a nutrition source among people.
Furthermore, high nucleic acid content, non-digestible cell walls, unpleasant colors
and flavors and risk of contamination further limit their acceptability as a global
food. So efforts needs to be made to uncover alternate substrates and approaches
which can minimize the drawbacks of microbial protein production which consequently can lead to the acceptance of this valuable nutrient source on a global scale
(Upadhyaya et al. 2016).
Due to economic, political and practical issues, microbial protein has not become
the major supply of foodstuff protein as initially envisioned. Developed countries
do not see the need of utilizing microbial proteins because they have abundant
stocks of high value proteins due to advances in agriculture. Microbial proteins can
still be a supportive food source in tropical less developed countries where traditional food is high in carbohydrates and low in proteins. Continuing increase in
population growth rate can eventually lead to shortage of food and nutrition even
with agricultural advancement. Providing sufficient nutritious food to everyone is
going to be a daunting task for future generations. Microbial proteins despite its
current poor popularity can still be a promising solution for this problem in
the future.
Acknowledgements AKS, SKP, and MS acknowledge CSIR-India, DBT-India and DST-India
funding agencies respectively for providing financial assistance in the form of Junior Research
Fellowship. PPK acknowledges financial support from University Grants Commission, India in the
form of CSIR-UGC Senior Research fellowship. SK acknowledges University Grants Commission,
India and Department of Science and Technology, India for providing financial support in the form
of UGC-BSR Research Start-Up-Grant [No. F.30–372/2017 (BSR)] and DST-SERB Grant
[EEQ/2016/000350] respectively. SK acknowledges Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India
for providing Research Seed Money Grant [GP-25].
A. K. Singh et al.