UPCYFUN

Microbes create sustainable proteins for the food future

UPCYFUN

Utilizing fungal strains and biostreams, these microbes will produce valuable food ingredients. The UPCYFUN project, led by ProteinFrontiers and featuring collaboration among universities, GTS, agriculture, the biotechnology industry, and technology companies, will accelerate innovation.

The climate impact is reduced by 70-90% by replacing animal food proteins, from e.g. beef and milk, with the same proteins produced by microbes. This also reduces the need for land to produce animal feed, which today accounts for 80% of our total agricultural land use. This will help producing Danish food on less agricultural land with a smaller climate and environmental footprint.

At the same time, sufficient protein is ensured for the world's population, which will grow to 10 billion by 2050 and will require a 30-60% increase in global food production. UPCYFUN is about global food security and securing Denmark's position as an exporter of food. We accelerate development of technology and capacity to be ready when microbe-based food hits the mass market within 5-10 years.

UPCYFUN’s goals are:

Development of production media based on bio-streams from agriculture, food and biotechnology industries.
Screening and optimization of microbial fungal strains to exploit complex biostreams and produce milk proteins.
Development of a platform that can be used to find the best combination of biostreams and microbial fungal strains using data analysis, including the use of artificial intelligence.
Establishment of a food-approved protein production based on biostreams via precision fermentation.

Activities

UPCYFUN is upcycling biostreams into production media, i.e. food for microbes, and the development of microbial strains that can efficiently utilize these media. By utilizing technology and knowledge from Denmark's biotech and pharma, UPCYFUN will create a new fermentation industry for food based on sustainable production media. This requires new collaborations across existing sectors and the creation of a completely new value chain. A collaboration that the partnership in the project has made possible.