What will we eat if meat-eating becomes impossible for environmental reasons, and there are not enough fields to feed a growing population? We are in for a revolution comparable in scale to the emergence of agriculture.
First there was a cow. There will be a bioreactor in the future.
In the bioreactor, milk proteins can be produced using microbes. In 2018, Finland succeeded for the first time.
If earlier it was necessary to specially raise a cow and feed for her, now in a tank the microbes produce milk proteins much more productively than a cow. An inefficient, polluting cow is no longer needed for this process.
Perhaps, after a few years, this product can be added to food, like powdered milk.
This invention of the Center for Technology Research (VTT) in the Finnish city of Espoo is just one example of a major revolution in food production. We will move from fields and barns to a more efficient and sustainable era.
In bioreactors, food can be obtained anywhere - in the desert or in a big city.
In the language of IT specialists, one could say that "food industry 4.0" awaits us.
Promotional video:
“In a few decades, there will be a lot of food to be produced, but resources will simply not be enough,” says scientist Lauri Reuter, Ph. D. in biotechnology.
Many concepts will have to be revised not only due to climate warming, but also due to population growth.
Today, food research labs and startups around the world are developing new technologies and developing new products. Meat derived from stem cells, meat substitutes, food derived from microbes directly from the air.
American investors have already sensed a place of bread in the new food business.
The new food revolution could be as big as the rise of agriculture 10,000 years ago. A big question arises: how to teach the consumer to eat in a completely new way?
Jam from cells in a magic pot
Finnish scientist Lauri Reiter participated in the process of creating the "magic pot". The international media has already named this achievement as one of the possible solutions to the world's food problem.
Reuters was previously a biotechnology researcher in the plant biotechnology group VTT. It is now part of the VTT strategic group.
In the future, the consumer will be able to independently grow edible plant tissue in a small home reactor. Cage jam will not solve the problem of hunger, but it could change the overall picture a little.
At the moment, there are only two prototypes of such a reactor: one is in the Heureka museum in Vantaa, the second is now being transported to different countries.
For example, now in VTT laboratories, lingonberries, prickly grapes and strawberries are grown from cells. In the future, berries can be grown both in cisterns of food processing plants and in home bioreactors.
From a nutritional point of view, tissues produce the same compounds as plants themselves. However, the plants themselves will not work. They are a cell mass, a kind of "jam from cells".
Lingonberry, obtained from cells, tastes like berry mousse.
“Of course, growing caged lingonberries in Finland won't be the brightest idea. Anyone can go to the forest and pick berries on their own,”notes Reuters.
“However, there are many places in the world where this cannot be done - for example, in Dubai. Food production is not possible there. Can we bring Finnish technology there?"
Even egg white can already be obtained without chicken
Reuters shares another piece of news. The VTT laboratories managed to obtain milk powder and egg white. It is believed that these achievements will be actively used in food production.
“There are several essential proteins in egg white. We take the chicken's gene - the information that makes protein. The protein is added to the microbe, which over time begins to produce this protein,”explains Reuters.
They are trying to develop proteins from chicken eggs and milk not only in Finland, but also in the USA. Finland's strength lies in its extensive experience in the production of proteins on an industrial scale.
Perhaps the world would be easier to save by reducing meat consumption?
“We need to continue our research anyway,” replies Reuters.
Will artificial meat save the world?
People love meat.
The average Finn eats 80 kilograms of meat a year. Many eat an amount of meat comparable to their own weight. Vegetarianism has become more popular, but this is not reflected in the decline in meat-eating. At least for now.
We continue to love the food that served us the most thousands of years ago. In addition, meat-eating is an integral part of our culture.
The inventor of artificial meat, professor at Maastricht University, Mark Post (Mark Post) is confident that humanity will never give up the taste of meat. The steak, obtained in the laboratory from stem cells, was first tasted in London in 2013.
Stem cells do not eat hay or release methane into the atmosphere. They are grown in a test tube, providing the cells with sufficient oxygen. First they were raised from the blood of cattle, and now they are in a synthetic solution, so live animals are not needed to create meat.
Previously, Post received meat from pig cages, but later focused on obtaining beef, as Sergey Brin, who funded the project, wanted a steak for a hamburger. Brin is one of the founders of the Google search engine.
The modern meat industry has also invested large sums in the creation of artificial meat.
Goose liver and fish cell tuna are also under development.
In principle, artificial meat can even be obtained from the stem cells of the Saimaa seal or your grandmother. Probably, this will alienate some potential consumers.
Who, then, is meat from stem cells for? Will meat fans agree to switch to artificial meat? The thought of stem cell-grown steak will not whet your appetite.
In any case, rainforests, water and arable land will be preserved, and greenhouse gas emissions will decrease. Bioreactors do not affect the environment, there is no waste.
However, there is still no comprehensive analysis of the impact of artificial meat on the environment. It is believed that energy is expended about the same as in poultry farms. What matters is how energy will be generated in the future.
Several firms announced that artificial meat would enter the market within a few years. Lauri Reuters believes that the initial deliveries will be very small.
“The products will be very expensive. It is far away until the time when they become available to many,”he believes.
Reuters heard that artificial meat steak doesn't taste like real meat steak at all.
Are meat substitutes better than artificial meat?
In addition to artificial meat, plant-based products that strongly resemble meat have entered the market for a long time.
Meatless cutlets were developed with the same purpose as artificial meat. There are no ethical or practical issues with stem cells in this product.
Don't trying to make artificial meat make sense?
Probably the most famous product is the American Impossible Foods hamburger steaks. These steaks are made entirely from plants and their secret ingredient is a protein like myoglobin. Myoglobin stains meat and blood red and adds a slight iron flavor.
Thanks to this invention, the plant-based steak is difficult to distinguish from the present.
“Such meat with a medium degree of roast very much resembles real meat in its taste and structure,” Lauri Reuters shares her experience.
Beefsteaks are already sold in a thousand restaurants. You can also try them on flights from New Zealand to Los Angeles.
Products that imitate meat are attracting the attention of investors. Beyond Meet, a competitor to Impossible Foods, is funded by Bill Gates.
These products are already being sold in stores on the same shelf as meat products.
Miracles of the future will allow you to get meat from almost anything
Lauri Reuter rubs her hands together. This is his favorite topic - getting food out of thin air using electricity.
“Plants get food from the air. Take beans, for example. It gets carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the air and uses the energy of the sun to make protein,”explains Reuters.
Microbes do the same. They get carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the air and use electricity as an energy source.
“The difference is that plants need fertile soil and are dependent on the season and weather conditions. When you grow microbes in an enclosed space, it doesn't matter where you are."
The process results in a protein powder. Finnish company Solar Foods, which spun off from VTT, plans to start commercial production in the early 2020s.
The company's goal is to ensure that the environmental impact of the product is 10 to 100 times less than that of products made from meat or its substitutes.
What can be considered real and natural?
When marketing, taste, price and sustainability issues are resolved, there is only one question left. Will science fiction products be liked by consumers who believe authenticity and naturalness are the most important?
What can be called natural? Intensive production?
Lauri Reuters reminds that a field is not more natural than a bioreactor. After all, it was also created by man.
“When we started cultivating the land about ten thousand years ago, we created a completely new group of plants: crops. There were no carrots, no cabbage, no corn or wheat”.
Probably, in 20 years, such technologies will be considered absolutely natural.
“If you think about the process of obtaining protein from the air, then this process can be called quite natural. This is how microbes usually live,”emphasizes Reuters.
In fact, bioreactors are not new to food production. The mushroom quorn protein, known to many, was obtained in a bioreactor. Microbes are rampant in breweries too.
What diet does Lauri Reuters follow?
“For environmental reasons, I eat mostly plant foods, but I usually decide on the situation. I don’t buy meat at home, but if someone cooks it for me, then, of course, I will eat everything,”admits Reuters.
Oili Orispää
