The use of single-cell protein (SCP) derived from unicellular organisms such as bacteria, yeasts, algae, and fungi is a promising answer to the problem of developing low-cost protein malnutrition. The importance of such an innovation, were it to come about, is obvious. In order to discuss and evaluate the prospective role of SCP in world food supply, a number of authorities gathered at M.I.T. for a three-day conference to consider the nutritional, technological, economic, sociological, and political problems to be overcome in developing SCP into a food source of significant impact.
Based upon the papers presented at the conference, this volume contains contributions from distinguished authorities in many interested fields. It brings together in one place for the first time a great deal of research pertinent to the present and projected use of SCP as a food or food supplement, treating four major aspects of the problem: the need for such a food material, biochemical and nutritional considerations, possible method of production, and the social, political, and psychobiological impact the development of such a food source would have.
Contributors
Aaron M. Altschil, Antonio Bacigalupo, Zeki Berk, T. L. V. Blair, Ricardo Bressani, Lester Brown, H. J. Bunker, John R. DeZeeuw, G. H. Evans, Arthur E. Humphrey, Pen-chieh Ko, Paul Lachance, John Litchfield, George C. Lodge, Allen G. Marr, Richard I. Mateles, John McKenzie, Sanford A. Miller, Hamish N. Munro, Bernard L. Oser, W. J. Oswald, Henry Peppler, Nevin S. Scrimshaw, Steven R. Tannenbaum, Danieel I. C. Wang, Koichi Yamada