Developing new and better food products for a growing population
According to forecasts from the UN, the world population will grow by more than two billion people over the next decades so that the total world population will reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. Moreover, the middle class is also growing, and more people are moving from the countryside to the cities. As such, there will be more mouths to feed, and the demand for healthy and convenient foods is also increasing.
The UN estimates that in 2050 we must produce 70% more food than we do today in order to feed the world population. However, the current way of producing food will most likely not be able to meet this demand. There is a need for research and innovation to find new sources of healthy, safe, and better foods and food components.
The National Food Institute’s vision is to make a difference by developing new and better food products for a growing population. The Institute strives to achieve this by finding new sources of raw materials and ingredients, assessing their nutritional content and the safety in using them – and by finding technologies that can be used to produce them.
For example, proteins from grass and seaweed can be developed to become high-quality products, and mealworms and other insects may also be on the menu of the future. Food must be healthy, safe, and preferably also tasty.