Fact sheet: Native grain species
Trees, shrubs, grasses and even small herbs produce seed. Seeds are designed to have carbohydrate, protein and enzymes for young plants and are excellent food...
83 pages
Published: 28 Sep 2023
Author(s): Sasi Nayar, Maylene G. K. Loo, Zhangli Du
ISBN: 978-1-76053-419-6
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A major challenge for plant-based meat manufacturers is that traditional plant-based pigment sources, such as soy, pea and almonds, do not provide the right colour associated with meat, being red-brown (haeme) rather than dull grey-brown. Phycoerythrin (PE), a pigment found in red microalgae and macroalgae, is the closest analogue to haeme in plant-based products.
The global PE market was valued at US$2.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to US$4.5 billion in 2032. This review of the global published literature investigated the PE yields and purity index in various marine microalgae and macroalgae, for both wild-sourced and cultivated algae.
There are many challenges associated with PE production at a commercial scale. This review is a comprehensive summary of the published literature on PE structure, sources, factors influencing biosynthesis, analytical techniques for quantification of the pigment, and post-harvest processing of algal biomass for extraction, purification and stabilisation of the purified pigment extract. This review also explores commercial applications and potential markets.