Post-pandemic sustainability of the Canadian pork industry: upgrading by-products to added-value goods. From feed to food and advanced purified hydrogels for cosmetics and health

加拿大的猪肉产业是一个相当大的产业，每年产值达26,3亿加元，涉及至少25，000名加拿大工人。在疫情爆发前，本集团已面临诸多挑战，包括二零一八年中国出现非洲猪瘟导致价格大幅波动，以及中国于二零一九年对加拿大猪肉实施禁令。随后，COVID-19大流行及其快速演变的自然病毒到来，为加拿大猪肉行业带来额外挑战。对动物出口的限制、物流限制以及屠宰场、餐馆和食品服务的关闭对肉类供应链的各个阶段都产生了不利影响。农民无法找到合适的市场出售他们的活牲畜。由于加工厂关闭，肉类加工能力也有所下降。不幸的是，疫情的结束并不意味着一个漫长的危机周期的结束，二零二一年的经济复苏导致玉米和小麦等原材料价格上涨近50%，主要原因是中国需求激增。令情况复杂化的是，COVID-19相关限制的放松可能会支持经济复苏，一方面推高石油、天然气价格，进而推高谷物肥料价格，另一方面，Omicron变种的威胁可能会在该行业产生新的危机。全球动物蛋白行业面临着前所未有的挑战，预计人口增长将使粮食需求增加48.6%。在全球范围内，大约44%的肉类猪不被人类消费。该项目预计将大大提高加拿大猪肉行业的竞争力，其整体的可持续性，通过再利用和本地增值这些不可食用的副产品。我们建议使用有效的蛋白质提取和转化来生产：1）生物活性肽作为饲料中抗生素和食品添加剂的替代品，2）来自副产物生物质发酵的代谢产物，以及3）高度可注射的水凝胶，能够快速凝胶化并递送细胞和生长因子，刺激再生医学和细胞移植领域的局部再生。

The Canadian pork industry represents a considerable industry of 26,3 billion of CDN$ annually, involving at least 25,000 Canadians workers. Already before the pandemic, it faced many challenges including high volatility of the prices due to the emergence of African swine fever in China in 2018, followed by the imposition of a ban on Canadian pork by China in 2019. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived with its rapidly evolving nature virus, inducing additional challenges to the Canadian pork meat industry. The limitations on animal exportation, logistics restrictions, and the shutting down of slaughterhouses, restaurants, and food services adversely affected all stages of the meat supply chain. Farmers were unable to find a suitable market to sell their live animals. Meat processing capacity also decreased due to the closure of the processing plants. Unfortunately, the end of the pandemic is not the end of a long cycle of crisis with the economic recovery in 2021 which has resulted in an almost 50% increase in the prices of ingredients like corn and wheat, due mainly to the explosion in Chinese demand. To complicate the situation, the easing of restrictions linked to COVID-19 is likely to support the economic recovery, pushing up the prices of oil, gas and, consequently, grain fertilizers on the one hand, and on the other hand, the threat of the Omicron variant could generate a new crisis in the industry. The global animal protein industry faces an unprecedented challenge with population growth that is predicted to increase food demand by 48.6%1. Globally, about 44% of pig raised for meat is not consumed by humans. This project is expected to tremendously increase the competitiveness of the Canadian pork industry, and its overall sustainability, by reusing and add value locally to these nonedible by-products. We propose to use efficient protein extraction and transformation to produce: 1) bioactive peptides as replacement of antibiotics in feed and additives in food, 2) metabolites coming from biomass fermentation of the by-product, and 3) highly injectable hydrogels able to gel rapidly and deliver cells and growth factors that stimulate local regeneration in the field of regenerative medicine and cell transplantation.