About the project
What FAF is trying to find out
Microalgae are frequently described as the future of protein. FAF treats that as a testable claim. The project takes a single well-characterised strain, Tetraselmis chuii, and follows it from photobioreactor to plate across seven food categories, recording what works, what costs too much, and what nobody wants to eat twice.
Goals
Reproducible biomass
Establish cultivation and quality criteria for Tetraselmis chuii biomass that other groups can repeat, not just admire.
Functional ingredients
Fractionate protein, lipid and pigment streams into standardised powders with documented functionality.
Seven prototypes
Develop fish analogues, caviar, beverages, snacks, cakes, chocolate and functional powders to a defined technology readiness level.
Honest assessment
Report nutrition, safety, sensory acceptance, environmental footprint and cost against conventional baselines — including where algae lose.
Structure
Seven work packages. One of them is admin, and we are not pretending otherwise.
- WP1
Coordination and management
Consortium governance, reporting, data management and ethics compliance.
- WP2
Cultivation and biomass supply
Strain selection, photobioreactor optimisation and reproducible biomass batches for all downstream work.
- WP3
Fractionation and ingredient design
Protein, lipid and pigment fractions characterised into standardised functional powders.
- WP4
Prototype development
Seven food prototypes formulated, iterated and documented with reproducible processing parameters.
- WP5
Nutrition, safety and sensory
Compositional analysis, allergenicity and contaminant screening, trained and consumer sensory panels.
- WP6
Sustainability and economics
Life cycle assessment and techno-economic modelling against conventional product baselines.
- WP7
Dissemination and exploitation
Open-access publications, consumer studies, regulatory dialogue and exploitation planning.
Timeline
April 2026 – March 2029 (36 months)
Months 1–9
Strain selection, cultivation optimisation, first biomass batches.
Months 6–20
Fractionation routes and ingredient powder specifications.
Months 12–30
Prototype development cycles with iterative sensory feedback.
Months 18–34
Nutrition, safety, life cycle and techno-economic assessment.
Months 24–36
Consumer studies, publications, regulatory dialogue, exploitation.
Expected impact
FAF aims to deliver evidence a food producer can act on: process parameters, compositional data, sensory results and comparative sustainability figures for seven concrete product categories. Where microalgae are competitive, the project documents how. Where they are not, it documents that too — a negative result on a prototype is a saved investment for everyone downstream.