Nice to m-eat you: what are alternative proteins?

Science on the Menu: A Food Safety Podcast by EFSA

European Food Safety Authority

Nutrition, Science, Government, Health & Fitness

0.0 • 0 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Legumes, mealworm powder and duck cell biomass produced in a lab may seem worlds apart but they all feature in conversations about how our food system is evolving. We look at why so-called alternative proteins are getting so much interest across the world and why their future is such a hot topic. Together with our guest Ermolaos Ververis we discuss how their safety is assessed and bust some common myths along the way. Join us as we explore how food innovation is shaping our protein choices.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the pipeline, we have also other things.
0:02.2	Like, for example, we have biomass of duct cells produced in the lab.
0:06.0	We have...
0:06.5	The biomass of duct cells produced in the lab.
0:17.2	Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Science on the menu.
0:27.6	If you're a regular listener, you'll know that on this podcast we like to tackle some of the big ideas that are shaping what we eat. And today is no different because we're going to open up a conversation on alternative proteins. Now alternative proteins is an umbrella term to talk about, we're talking about new sources of
0:39.9	protein, new protein sources. And we're going to talk a little bit today about what that means,
0:46.5	why there's a growing interest in alternative proteins, and also of course what ESA is doing to make
0:51.2	sure that they're safe before they enter the food system in Europe.
0:56.0	And to help us unpack all of this is our friend of the podcast and the scientific expert here at EFSA in the Nutrition and Food Innovation Unit.
1:05.1	Emelous Ververis. Emelous, a very warm welcome to you. Fans of the podcast will probably remember you from
1:11.8	the episode we did together on insects as novel foods. And that was one of our most popular
1:17.3	episodes. So we're very happy to have you back here in the hot seat. How are you, Emelouse?
1:22.8	Thank you. Thank you very much, James, for having me again here. I'm doing very well. I'm looking
1:26.9	forward to a discussion on this topic. I'm looking forward to a discussion
1:27.9	on this topic. I think it would be a very exciting discussion with many aspects to unveil.
1:33.6	Great. Well, let's jump straight in. Maybe we start at the beginning, though. And if you could
1:38.7	just explain to us a little bit what we mean when we're talking about alternative proteins. So what are they? So the world
1:47.6	alternative itself already suggests a substitution or a replacement. However, replacement of
1:54.6	what exactly? Do we talk about replacing meat, specifically red meat, dairy, or in general, alimar source foods.
2:02.9	So you can understand that this reply can be different depending on who you ask.
2:07.8	The alternative already tells the story and not necessarily a scientific one.
	...

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