Single Cell Protein (SCP) and its effects

SINGLE-CELL PROTEIN (SCP) Single-Cell Protein - The term single- cell protein (SCP) is used to describe protein derived from microbial cells (such as yeast, other fungi, algae and bacteria),. The whole organism is harvested and consumed, rather than using the products of their fermentation's or other processing. While SCP production may have potential for feeding the ever-increasing world population, in practice only a few schemes have proved to be commercially successful . Photosynthetic organisms include Spirulina …

…and nucleic acid content as well as palatability, allergies and gastrointestinal effects should be taken into consideration (9). Also long term feeding trials should be undertaken for toxicological effects and carcinogenesis. Bacterial protein is similar to fish protein, yeast's protein resembles soya and the fungi protein is somewhat lower than the yeast's. Of course microbiological proteins are deficient in the sulphur amino acids cysteine and methionine and require supplementation, while they exhibit better levels of lysine