DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-QUALITY FOOD PROTEINS THROUGH THE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF LEGUME CULTIVATION

What is

PROTEINLEG is a supra-autonomous Operational Group whose aim is to develop high-quality food proteins through the sustainable production and processing of legume cultivation.

Following current trends towards healthier and more environmentally respectful foods, PROTEINLEG will use legumes to develop new healthy, tasteful, and attractive food rich in vegetable proteins. The varieties of legumes used will be cultivated innovative, profitable and efficient through optimized and sustainable production and processing methods.

With a 555.623,32€ budget, the initiative is 80% cofounded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) of the European Union and 20% by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods.

Starting point

The Spanish deficit on vegetable proteins rises to 70%.
Society demands sustainable, healthy and nutritive alternatives to animal-origin proteins.
The livestock sector has a risky dependency on soybean importations as the only viable protein source for compound feed production.
Therefore, efforts to promote cultivation and diversify Spanish vegetable-origin protein sources are needed.

Why legume?

PROTEINLEG focuses on some of the most crucial varieties of legumes for humans (beans, broad beans and chickpeas) and animal consumption (lupins, broad beans and peas).