incoming lab-grown food revolution? 🍲
Kevin's Newsletter #35
In 2018, world total agriculture and related land-use emissions reached 9.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2eq). Livestock production processes such as enteric fermentation and manure deposition on pastures dominated farm-gate emissions, together generating 3 billion tonnes CO2eq in 2018. It’s very concerning since there aren’t any new sustainable ways to continue traditional agriculture.
Cellular agriculture could be one way to minimize these emissions and lessen the effect on the environment.
Cellular agriculture is the production of animal-based products from cell cultures rather than directly from animals. After hunting and domesticating animals, cellular agriculture looks set to become the third phase of human sourcing of animal protein.
Various products like artificial muscle proteins, milk, eggs, gelatin, coffee, leather and silk are produced.
Various approaches-
THE CELL-CULTIVATION METHOD
THE ACELLULAR METHOD (precision fermentation)
1. THE CELL-CULTIVATION METHOD
The cell-cultivation method refers to growing meat directly from cells. Cells are the building blocks of all life. By cultivating them to produce meat and seafood, the raising and slaughtering of animals can be avoided. To produce cultured meat and seafood, stem cells are initially sampled from animals through a painless biopsy.
These cells are then fed with nutrients in large vats, also known as cultivators, where they multiply and differentiate. As they grow, they become muscle tissue, which is the main component of meat. A number of startups and companies are currently working on developing a variety of cultured foods, including beef, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, milk, and cheese.
2. THE PRECISION-FERMENTATION METHOD
The precision-fermentation method refers to the use of microorganisms rather than cell cultures to produce products such as milk and egg-white proteins. These products can be grown directly from microorganisms such as yeast in a similar fermentation process to that which has been used for many years in the food industry to produce enzymes such as rennet (a key ingredient to producing cheese) or vanillin (the main component of vanilla flavour), as well as other products. Startups and companies are currently working to develop milk, ice cream, cheese, gelatin, and egg-white.
Some products have already been commercialized, such as Greater’s ice cream, which uses Perfect Day’s flora-based dairy proteins.
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Hybrid products combine plant-based and cultured ingredients to develop tasty and sustainable products that will also potentially be cost-effective. The first proof-of-concept of hybrid products, chicken nuggets comprising 80% vegetable protein and 20% cultured fat, was unveiled in March 2019 by Peace of Meat, during a public event organised in Berlin.
Looking at it this way, plant-based and cultured products are not mutually exclusive categories but actually form a highly promising complementary strategy – together, they have the potential to accelerate market entry by combining two different approaches to arrive at a perfect result, rather than perfecting just one approach completely.
CHALLENGES
The most pressing challenges currently facing cellular agriculture include research, regulatory aspects, and consumer acceptance. More publicly-funded, open-source research is required to address technical challenges such as growth mediums, cell lines, and consumer safety. The regulatory framework for cellular-agriculture products needs further elaboration in order to create a supportive environment for producers and consumers.
In addition, consumers need to be informed about and updated on the potential benefits of, and current developments around, cellular agriculture in order to ensure widespread acceptance of these products. The CellAg Project focuses its efforts on key aspects within these three areas in order to help create encouraging conditions for introducing this new and promising method of protein production.
Various disadvantages and issues related to cellular agriculture-
Expensive– It is very expensive to produce. The technology employed and expenditure on research and development increase the cost of the products and make them non-affordable at present.
Safety Concerns- Whether genetically modified, factory-grown products are safe for us to eat is yet to be studied. There are ethical concerns similar to GMO crops. There can be a lack of trust between consumers and companies.
Potential issues over regulation– The process behind food regulation takes a long time. This could impact how quickly quality and safety among all products are standardised. Regulation is not easy. Testing methods for safety, which governing bodies for regulation demand time and resources. This could push development even farther back.
Cheaper alternatives– Better, cheaper and more effective alternatives regarding food supply for the present and future are present. Some argue that moving towards more plant-based diets (or diets with less meat, dairy and animal products) make better use of resources, and are cheaper, more effective, quicker to implement and healthier than what lab-grown meat can offer as a food source. We also already have several plant-based meat substitutes in the markets.
Complete Nutrition– Cellular Agriculture can control nutritional content like fat and protein content. But, overall nutrition is important too. There are certain nutrients that we can only get in bulk from natural agriculture outside a lab.
What do you think, will there be a lab-grown food revolution?
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With land scarcity lab grown food is our future ,on earth and on other planet. Good information. 👍