Synfeed

Half of the protein fed to livestock is wasted due to incomplete digestibility and differences in amino acid profiles between plants and animals. This inefficiency contributes to environmental pollution. Moreover, the European Union relies heavily on imported soybean meal, at a cost of €1.5 billion per year, while struggling to secure sufficient protein sources for animal feed. To address these issues, Synfeed project will develop a novel interdisciplinary technological approach. The project will use precision nutrition, protein engineering, cell-free systems and fermentation to produce highly digestible tailored proteins, reducing environmental impact and dependence on imported raw materials. The project will demonstrate this solution in poultry as a first model and promote European Union leadership in sustainable biosynthetic protein production. The long-term vision of Synfeed is to revolutionize animal feed by developing, for the first time, new microbial-origin proteins fully fitted to animals’ requirements and completely digestible, by employing novel protein biosynthesis through fermentation processes. This approach will enable a more competitive and environmentally-friendly animal feeding system. This is a Pathfinder project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement ID 101186580.