Innovation

Plantible Foods, based out of San Diego, is an innovative organization, which as Tony and Maurits stated, aims to “revolutionize the food industry by harnessing the power of the humble, awe-inspiring lemna to create the world’s best plant-based protein”. The accredited superstar in this organization is the lemna, also known as duckweed. This is one of the smallest growing flowering plants in the world, and it free floats in aquatic settings. The lemna is grown in controlled conditions, in aqua farms that are very environmentally friendly, Tony said, “Our proprietary cultivation and extraction processes enable us to grow lemna in low impact, environmentally sensitive aqua farms, using no pesticides and recycling nearly 95% of the water”. This process allows Plantible Foods to achieve their goal with very little carbon dioxide emissions, which is one of the leading causes of our climate crisis. They use no harsh chemicals such as pesticides, and it is very natural.

Plantible Foods have a step by step process on how they achieve the production of their plant-based protein. First, they grow the lemna inside their aqua farms, and “use developed technologies to optimize growth rates”, Tony stated. After this, it is time to harvest the lemna, which can occur everyday. This is because it doubles in mass every 48 hours, making it an extreme competitor to other plant sources that can only be harvested around once a year. To extract the lemna, they use a cold press to take out the organic protein ingredient from the lemna. From here, it is possible to make the protein, which is extremely rich in RuBis CO. This is a plant protein that is very prevalent on Earth, and exists in large quantities in the lemna.

The Rubi Protein is a huge part of this operation, and has a positive impact on the future of our food industry. All green plants that go through photosynthesis contain this Rubi protein. Despite all plants containing it, it is often in a very little amount so it is not reaching its full potential and giving us the full nutritional benefits. Plantible Foods explained that, “Unlike other plant proteins, our Rubi contains all nine essential amino acids in optimal doses for the human body. It has a protein digestibility score of one (similar to that of eggs or animal protein)”. Using the lemna to get more amounts of this protein into the diets of more people is the goal.

Inspiration

This innovative organization's inspiration is to sustainably nourish the world's growing population. The members of Plantible Foods believe that CPG makers (Consumer packaged goods) will be severely impressed with the way that they managed to have a protein free from the top eight allergens and incredibly sustainable. Their protein has several benefits to our bodies and overall health, some being the benefits provided for sports and exercise, a better snacking option than other foods in the marketplace, and a great dairy alternative. As well as being beneficial for our health, it is profoundly beneficial for our environment. This process allows Plantible Foods to achieve their goal with very little carbon dioxide emissions, which is one of the leading causes of our climate crisis. They use no harsh chemicals such as pesticides, and it is very natural.

The Plantible Foods organization contributes greatly to creating a more sustainable and responsible future. Through their process, they apply various sustainable development goals created by the United Nations. A major focus/inspiration of theirs is on goal number 2; zero hunger. This is one of the most coveted SDG's, as it aims to achieve food security and promote environmentally friendly ways of agriculture. As mentioned earlier, lemna is a very fast growing plant-based protein, and makes a lot of it every single day. With being able to be produced quickly, as well as being rich in energy and nutrients, it is a great food to use in feeding those in need. This business also focuses on the clean water goal, as many other companies are contaminating water all over the world. Plantible Foods’ aquatic farms run in such a way that limits fertilizer runoff into our aquifers and other water sources. It does not affect the drinking water of nearby communities. Other SDG’s that this company works vigorously to achieve are global health, sustainable infrastructure, combating climate change, and protecting land and life.

Overall, Plantible Foods is sustainably and efficiently creating a successful food source for the rest of the world. Through this, consumers can get more necessary nutrients in a safe, environmentally friendly way. It is teaching communities how to preserve their natural resources and combat climate change.

Overall impact

The use of lemna is an aid in lowering carbon dioxide emissions, making nutritious protein more accessible, providing jobs for more people, and helping communities all over achieve these benefits as well. Plantible Foods has a goal of teaching others about the lemna and the Rubi Protein, in hopes that it could benefit the world on a larger scale. Our current ways of obtaining most foods through animals have various problems, such as being very expensive, less tasty, and less healthy. With the process being so environmentally friendly, and producing a large amount of protein, it is a desirable path for lots of countries to take.

Plantible Foods’ founders “believe that all food can be plant-based”. The discovery of proteins such as the Rubi protein offers a great amount of hope to the world. The protein has many positive aspects that non plant based foods do not have. These include the fact that it is regenerative, it has no compromises, and it has a high nutritional yield. Lemna has a 70% nutritional yield, while products such as beef only have a 27% nutritional yield.

Business benefit

A large amount of the business benefits of Plantible Foods comes from the sharing of this innovative idea with others who can learn from it. As mentioned earlier, they produce many economic opportunities. They hire and train many people on the production of this lemna and Rubi protein, and then they go out into communities in need. These are places that used to be known for their agricultural greatness, but have fallen due to many climate crises. When giving farmers this knowledge and new techniques, they remain a step ahead of these crises and can use the resources given sustainably.

Plantible Foods has many investors that make their dream come to life and distribute the protein through their products; dairy products, meat products, and egg white alternatives. Some of these investors are Vectr, Unshackled, and Kelloggs.

Social and environmental benefit

As their website states, “Our current system of food production is responsible for 26% of global CO2 emissions, occupies 50% of all habitable land, and uses 70% of all the freshwater on Earth”. This is an alarming statistic about the process that most countries are currently using to create our food sources. If they keep going at this rate, the Earth will be heading towards a steady decline. This is why the production of the Rubi protein uses an environmentally friendly system of aquafarms. Their system recycles 95% of the water, instead of using it, contaminating it, and then discarding it. One of the bright benefits of the aquafarms is that it does not contaminate the water used, because it uses no harsh chemicals or pesticides. Due to the large amount of RuBisCo in the lemna, it calls for less energy being taken away from mass amounts of production. With this lemna plant, consumers can obtain more energy and necessary proteins, with a much lower environmental cost.

This method of food production can be eye opening for the rest of the world, as it shows that we can break away from our typical way of doing things. The hope of this organization is to show everyone that there are cleaner, healthier, and more productive ways of giving us food and nutrients without hurting our planet

Interview

Tony M., Founder