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Microalgae as a future food source
Open accessAbstract
One of the key challenges that we face in the 21st century is the need to feed an ever-increasing human population with increasingly limited natural resources. Even today it is estimated that roughly 1 out of 9 people in the world are undernourished, of which the most important factor is protein-energy malnutrition. By establishing microalgae as a new food and feed platform, we have the opportunity to increase the supply of these essential products to address global demands in a more efficient and environmentally sustainable way. Many types of algae are nutritionally complete foods, their yields outperform most plant crops, and there is a growing set of tools to develop improved strains of algae. Similar improvements were achieved in traditional crops through thousands of years of breeding and strain selection, whereas with the newest genetic engineering tools and advanced strain selection techniques, similar changes can be implemented in microalgae in just a few years. Here we describe different strategies that could be used to enhance the nutritional content, productivity, and organoleptic traits of algae to help drive development of this new crop. Clearly developing more efficient, sustainable, and nutritious foods and feed would be an enormous benefit for the planet, and algae represents an opportunity to develop a new crop that would complement traditional agriculture, and one that could potential result in a more efficient means to meet the world's food and feed supply.
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“A promising alternative is direct extraction from wet biomass.”
From Microalgae biotechnology and its role in sustainable and healthy food design (2025) · cites this paper as Torres-Tiji et al., 2020
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“This approach enables the use of aqueous-compatible techniques—such as solution-based extraction—and intensification technologies, including ultrasound, electric fields, and alternative solvents (Torres-Tiji et al., 2020).”
From Microalgae biotechnology and its role in sustainable and healthy food design (2025) · cites this paper as Torres-Tiji et al., 2020
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“Other GRAS species are Arthrospira platensis, Auxenochlorella protothecoides, Dunaliella bardawil, Dunaliella salina, Schizochytrium sp., and Ulkenia sp. [194,208].”
From Microalgae n-3 PUFAs Production and Use in Food and Feed Industries (2021) · cites this paper as [208]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Torres-Tiji, Y., Fields, F. J., & Mayfield, S. P.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Torres-Tiji, Yasin
- Venue
- Biotechnology Advances
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 41
- Pages
- 107536
- ISSN
- 0734-9750 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3011712150
- Cited by
- 559
- References
- 152
- Citations by year
- 2026: 65 · 2025: 110 · 2024: 114 · 2023: 91 · 2022: 98 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 19
- FWCI
- 3.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biotechnology Advances (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOEEE0007689)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Aquaculture Nutrition and Growth
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food Industry and Aquatic Biology
- Keywords
- microalgae, protein-energy malnutrition, malnutrition, genetic engineering of algae, nutritional enhancement, productivity improvement, organoleptic traits, sustainable food supply, alternative protein sources
- MeSH terms
- Agriculture, Food Supply, Genetic Engineering, Humans, Crops, Agricultural, Microalgae
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