Chandigarh, Aug 31 (IANS): The National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute in Punjab's Mohali will be making a big contribution to the production of smart proteins, said its Executive Director Ashwini Pareek on Saturday.

"These new initiatives will contribute to 'Viksit Bharat-Samridh Bharat' through the use of green technologies in a sustainable manner," he said.

The NABI is all set to embrace this transformative advancement in smart agriculture and bioprocessing.

"With support from the Department of Biotechnology, the NABI is going to contribute immensely to ensure climate-smart agriculture and set up the technologies for smart protein production. This will contribute to the Prime Minister's vision of India becoming a five trillion-dollar economy," Pareek said in a statement.

The National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, has hailed the BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy for fostering high-performance biomanufacturing approved by the Union Cabinet last week.

In the statement, the NABI said the BioE3 policy will help the large-scale manufacturing of smart proteins, which is one of the strategic sectors on which the BioE3 Policy focuses.

Smart or alternative proteins are proteins from sources other than meat, eggs, and dairy. Many international and Indian companies have already ventured into the smart protein market.

Cultured smart proteins that use less than one per cent of land and five per cent water as compared to red meat, are disease-free and are free from health-hazardous components.

The NABI says with India's bio-economy projected to reach $300 billion by 2030, bridging the gap between laboratory-scale productions and commercial-scale manufacturing of smart proteins could pave the way to the nation achieving nutritional security, with minimum footprints on the environment.

The nascent smart protein industry, in collaboration with institutes such as the NABI, hopes to accelerate advanced research on different categories of smart proteins such as plant-based meat alternatives, in vitro cultured meat and protein fermentation’.

The plant-based meat alternative is the most popular category of alternate proteins. They are of high quality, that too with the most efficient use of resources and minimal impact on the environment.