New research vindicates Oman’s foray into global alternative foods industry

New research by a group of scientists representing two leading US universities has confirmed that the proprietary technology of American food-tech firm MycoTechnology can produce plant-based protein that is as nutritive as animal-based proteins.

The findings, published in the latest edition of the Journal of Food Science and Technology, have beneficial implications for the Sultanate of Oman, which recently announced a landmark partnership with MycoTechnology envisioning, among other things, the establishment of a major alternative foods industry in Oman.

Muscat-headquartered Vital Foods Technologies is the product of a partnership of Oman Investment Authority (OIA), the integrated sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman, and Colorado-based food innovation start-up MycoTechnology.

Vital Foods’ proposed project in the Sultanate of Oman, due to be operational by 2025, will harness MycoTechnology’s proprietary fermentation technology to produce alternative proteins from the prodigious quantities of dates produced annually in the country.

According to the findings of the researchers from the University of Illinois and Cornell University, plant-based proteins produced by harnessing MycoTechnology’s mushroom mycelia fermentation technology are as “nutrient-dense as animal proteins”. In essence, plant-based proteins produced with the aid of this technology are as wholesome and nourishing as animal-based proteins, thus affording a cost-competitive, widely available and sustainable alternative to animal proteins sourced from the livestock sector – an industry associated with practices deemed harmful to harmful to the planet.

Importantly, the findings vindicate wholly government-owned OIA’s decision to venture into the alternative proteins industry which, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, is projected to reach a value of $162 billion globally by 2030, up from around $29.4 billion in 2020. In the Middle East, alternative plant-based proteins are expected to supplant animal-based proteins by around 15 – 20 per cent by 2025.

Vital Foods’ project in the Sultanate of Oman will seek to drive value creation from the estimated 400 million tonnes of dates produced annually in the country. With more than half of this output unsuitable for consumption as dates, it will serve as an abundant source of raw material for its further processing into alternative proteins utilising MycoTechnology’s fermentation technology.

Besides opening up a new economic sector centred around alternative proteins production in the country, the Vital Foods project will also play an important role in strengthening food security domestically and internationally as well.

Additionally, as a producer of nutritive plant-based proteins, Oman will also contribute to global efforts to reduce planet-warming carbon emissions attributable to the international livestock farming industry. Furthermore, it will consolidate Oman’s efforts to evolve into a food producing hub in the region, say experts.