Pulse crops to develop sustainable and healthy protein ingredients: Current status and pathway to enabling sustainable innovation

Abstract: There is an urgent need to accelerate innovation for more sustainable and healthy food systems to meet the United Nation’s sustainable development goals and ensure food security. Pulses (cool-season grain legumes) such as faba bean, lentil, chickpea, field pea, and lupins are sustainable protein sources available for alternative protein ingredient production. The benefits gained from the cultivation of legumes are largely due to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen that leads them to produce protein-rich seeds. The global demand for chemical nitrogen fertilizer and need for sustainable (green) protein sources have made these crops attractive globally. Pulse seeds generally contain about 15-35% (of the dry matter) protein. Various dry and wet processing techniques are currently being used to produce flours, protein concentrates, isolates, and texturized proteins that can be used in various food formulations. Due to low cost, availability at scale, and other nutritional and functional characteristics, pea proteins are increasingly being used along with soybean and cereal proteins to replace meat and dairy proteins in different food products. Other pulse proteins such as faba bean, lentil, chickpea, and lupin are entering to the market gradually providing an array of different functional ingredients to select from. Utilization of some pulse ingredients as alternative source of proteins is, however, still in its infancy compared to other plant-based proteins such as soybean. This is due to functional and organoleptic challenges as well as price, availability, agronomic, supply chain, and co-product utilization considerations.

This presentation will highlight the current status of pulse ingredient market and innovative approaches needed to increase availability and utilization of these sustainable protein ingredients and co-products. More emphasis will be given to pulses such as faba bean, lentil, and chickpea in terms of breeding, agronomic, and post-harvest processing considerations to develop functional and nutritious ingredients using sustainable measures.