Food

Recent decades have seen an increase in intensive agricultural practices involving the use of large quantities of fertilizers and pesticides. This has had a substantial impact on the environment. In combination with the effects of climate change, this is set to affect the supply of protein.

Summer without ice cream - hardly imaginable for many. But those who cannot tolerate milk or lactose often have to do without. Fraunhofer researchers now offer an alternative: "Lupinesse" - the purely vegetable delicacy is free of lactose and cholesterol and contains valuable lupine protein. The ice cream is available at EDEKA.

It looks like a schnitzel, it is juicy and fibrous like a schnitzel, and it even chews like a real schnitzel - but the ingredients are 100 percent vegetable. Researchers are using a new process to produce meat substitutes that not only taste good, but are also sustainable.

Contaminating microorganisms lead to spoilage of fresh goods, sometimes even forming life-threatening toxins. Food must therefore be sterilized as far as possible and filled or packaged under hygienic conditions. Traditional methods of preservation, such as heat sterilization, have the disadvantage that they destroy valuable heat-sensitive ingredients of the food, such as vitamins, and thus reduce the nutritional value...

Summer, sun, grilling time. You think you've chosen a good piece of meat from the refrigerated counter, put it on the grill, and in a flash it's shrunk by half and is as tough as an old shoe sole. Whether the steak is tender on the grill depends less on the cooking method than on the meat itself. Only through proper storage and aging does it become tender, aromatic and digestible. So that we can fully enjoy the grilling season in the future, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT are creating a concept for monitoring dry aging for tasty meat enjoyment.

In summer, it's particularly strong again: the desire for fresh produce! Salad, fruit, vegetables - preferably practically pre-cut from the refrigerated section. Together with freshly grilled fish and meat, you can quickly conjure up a light menu for hot days.

Continuous, pesticide-free and sustainable farming of plant-based food inside buildings? This is possible with “OrbiPlant®”, an innovative, automated vertical farming system developed by the Fraunhofer IME for efficient and cost-effective large-scale farming processes.