The Heather Mills meals that swap meat for... pond slime!
HEATHER Mills has told how algae – or pond slime – could be the future of food in a world threatened by climate change.
The ex-wife of Beatle Sir Paul McCartney runs the VBites vegan food company which has opened a 600,000 sq ft production base in a former Walkers crisp factory.
It comes as projects are under way around the world to grow algae in vast man-made ponds. It is, apparently, rich in protein and healthy omega 3 oils and can be turned into ‘faux’ meat and fish products.
Miss Mills, 51, is working on creating alternatives to beef, chicken, pork, salmon and tuna at her factory in Northumberland.
She said: ‘Algae is the future of food. At the moment the world is going nuts for soya and pea protein but that will soon be very yesterday. We are doing mushroom and oat-based products, but the future belongs to algae.
‘It’s rich in protein, grows like wildfire and creates just a pinprick of the waste associated with animal-based and other protein sources.’
Miss Mills told The Grocer magazine: ‘My aim has always been to feed people directly through plants rather than via animals.
‘Essentially, algae converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into oxygen and biomass that can be used to feed people. It could literally solve the problem of world hunger.’
The algae protein can act as a substitute for meat, which means there is reduced need for animals to suffer and die in livestock farming, which is linked to damaging greenhouse gas emissions.
Figures show there are more than 2,000 companies worldwide which produce and process microalgae. Investment in UK food and drink start-ups that use algae is soaring. Research shows three deals raised a total of £314,000 in 2011, but last year there were eight raising £8.5million.
In September, UK food firm Moving Mountains launched meat-free sausages encased in an algaebased skin, which achieved the ‘holy grail’ for a vegan product of giving the same bite and texture as a pork sausage.