Research Roundup

The environmental impact of mycoprotein-based meat alternatives compared to plant-based meat alternatives: A systematic review

2 August 2024

The interest in and consumption of meat alternatives has risen with meat alternative products designed to mimic the taste, texture and cooking process of meat. These meat alternatives are made from plant-based ingredients such as soy protein, pea protein or fungi-based mycoprotein. 

A new global review (1) investigates the environmental impact of mycoprotein-based meat alternatives compared to those of plant-based meat alternatives and animal-based meats. 

The study based its environmental impact estimates using life cycle assessments (LCAs) that quantify the different environmental impacts attributable to each part of the production process of the food. Environmental impact measures collected were greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (kg CO2 eq), land use per year (m²y) and water use (L), as these were the measures for which LCA data were readily available for mycoprotein-based meat alternatives. Data were collected for base protein forms (soy, pea) and selected products for which comparators were available (burgers, mince and sausages). 

Five studies were included in the analysis and compared against LCAs of seven separate plant-based meat alternative proteins or products, and one study of animal-based meats. Results identified the production of mycoprotein-based products as less GHGe intensive than the production of either soy protein or pea protein. Also, mycoprotein-based mince, burger and sausage products had comparable GHGe to equivalent soy- and pea-based meat alternatives. 

Overall, results demonstrated that mycoprotein- and plant-based meat alternative products were found to have broadly similar GHGe impacts, and all had GHGe much lower than for equivalent animal-based meats. 

The authors concluded that mycoprotein and mycoprotein-based products are an environmentally beneficial alternative to animal-based meat sources. Differences between the impacts of mycoprotein- versus plant-based meat alternatives are likely for ingredient and processing stages of production. More data are needed to confirm this and will be important for developing strategies that further reduce GHGe emissions and other environmental impacts of the food system.  

The strengths of this systematic review were the assessment of multiple environmental impacts, across multiple geographic regions, using several different product types, with full access to recipe and manufacturing information. A limitation was the lack of data to reliably discriminate between the GHGe impacts of mycoprotein- versus plant-based meat alternative products especially impact measures such as land use, water use, eutrophication, acidification and energy use.  

Reference  

1. Shaid M, Sha P, Mach K, Rodgers-Hunt NB, Finnigan T, Frost G, Neal B, Hadikakou. The environmental impact of mycoprotein-based meat alternatives compared to plant-based meat alternatives: A systematic review. Future Foods. vol 10, Dec 2024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fufo.2024.100410.