More about food

All animals, including humans, need dietary protein. It is a basic building block of life and an important component of a healthy diet.

Most national dietary guidelines and recommendations in Europe provide information on the quantities and sources of protein needed for balanced diets. Comparing this with information on protein consumption indicates that protein deficiency is extremely rare in Europe. Consumption well in excess of needs is much more common than protein deficiency. Our excess protein consumption is associated with high consumption of livestock products and the related health problems. The negative consequences for the environment are very significant. Producing protein, especially animal protein, is resource intensive and so consumption is linked to resource and environmental challenges in agriculture.

Slightly more than half of the food protein consumed in the EU is from animal sources. Many of us consume more red meat (beef and pork) than is recommended with consequences for both our health and the environment. There is now widespread recognition of the damage done by diets high in livestock products. Moving to greater reliance on plant-based foods is now a ‘mega-trend’ that is predicted to reduce the consumption of animal products by 20 % in the medium term and by about 50 % in the longer term. While most of the plant protein we consume is in traditional foods such as cereals, pulses and vegetables, there is a rapidly growing market for new food products that are especially rich in plant-sourced protein and have similar functions to meat and dairy products in the kitchen.

Grain legumes or pulses are first-class sources of dietary protein. They are used in many foods including stews, meat and milk analogue products, bakery products, snacks and spreads. Whole pulses are used in many traditional food products, some of these are protected under the European Union’s schemes of geographic indications and traditional specialities (PDO, PGI and TSG). In addition to supplying protein, pulses in particular bring a wide range of other benefits to the diet. They make a very clear contribution to healthy eating. However, the proportion of legumes in Europeans’ diets remains small or insignificant.

Pulses can be consumed in different ways from raw to highly refined components of novel plant-based food products, following advanced fractionation. The sky is the limit when it comes to their potential in food.

The food industry’s demand for legume-based ingredients is growing and the time is ripe to scale up operations. We need to raise the cultural and economic value of grain legumes and investigate ways for increasing regional production to deliver better rewards for farmers. Soybeans grow well in central and south-east Europe and the cool-season grain legumes such as peas and faba beans provide local raw materials elsewhere in Europe. We also have a wide range of other pulses such as lentils, common beans and chickpeas that are essential to many traditional dishes. Despite these great benefits and opportunities, the capacity to process regional legumes for the food industry remains low in many parts of Europe, the supplies are limited, and the quality often needs improvement.

The Legume Hub examines aspects related to food-based value chains, including processing grain legumes for human consumption, as well as the environmental and health effects of pulses.