Turning beer yeast into sustainable proteins

By turning unused beer yeast into a protein, a startup has created an ingredient that is both sustainable and scalable

Spotted: The alternative meat market is growing rapidly. In 2020, sales were around $4.2 billion (around €3.97 billion), and are expected to grow six-fold to reach $28 billion (around €26.5 billion) by 2025. Although many see meat-alternatives as the more environmentally friendly option, often a lot of the processes involved in engineering meat-free proteins depend heavily on fossil fuel energy. Now, French startup Yeasty has come up with a more sustainable way of manufacturing meat-free proteins, using beer yeast.

Yeasty uses leftover yeast from breweries that would otherwise go to waste, and processes the feedstock to remove its bitter taste so that it may be repurposed for a variety of products. Aside from meat alternatives, the ingredient will also be used to create bread, protein starches, biscuits, alternative cheeses, and eggs.

Through its process, Yeasty is able to create a product rich in a ‘meaty’ and umami taste with a high protein content of between 50 and 60 per cent. As well as being a good source of amino acids, fibre, and vitamins, the ingredient is also affordably priced.

At the moment, Yeasty is still yet to scale outside of its lab, but has recently raised €1.4 million in a funding round led by Asterion Ventures. The company’s objective for 2025 is to build an industrial site with an annual capacity of over 4,500 tonnes.

Springwise has spotted other more sustainable animal-free proteins, including quick-growing cultured meat, and fungi-based proteins.

Written By: Matilda Cox