The demand for protein is certain to become serious with overexploitation of the sea and the use of most of the available arable land as the rapid growth in population continues. We are therefore faced with the problem of finding new sources of protein that will not require agricultural land or costly and tedious means of production. Micro-organisms as a source of protein are one solution to this problem. The single cell of a microorganism is a perfect protein factory. Under controlled conditions in a fermentor, the culture of single cells can effect a highly efficient transformation of simple substances into protein.
Agricultural waste is a renewable resource of great variety and potential.
In recent years the use of wastes like bagasse, rice straw, rice hulls, manure, and starchy residues as substrates for growing microbes has been studied. If the use of these materials is industrially developed, a vast bulk of them could be rendered economically useful, and this would help control pollution and eliminate some waste-disposal problems as well. The macromolecular composition and general properties of these organisms are shown in table 1. These potentially important food substances are not pure proteins but are, rather, dehydrated cells consisting of mixtures of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids and a variety of other non-protein nitrogenous compounds, vitamins, and inorganic compounds. Microbial protein is a nontraditional protein, it is not a palatable, desirable food and must be incorporated directly or indirectly into other foods.