What methods of producing artificial meat are proposed by scientists to defeat the food crisis
Do you love ruddy kebabs, juicy beef steaks and aromatic hot cutlets? We have two news for you. The bad news is that there won't be enough meat for everyone in the foreseeable future. Today, over 66 billion animals are eaten every year by humanity.
Food of the future: sorry for the bird …
How many animals are needed to feed humanity during the year:
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Judging by the dynamics in the next 30-50 years, in order to feed hungry mouths, this figure will need to be doubled, since it is necessary to satisfy the appetites of developing countries, where there is a population explosion. When the Chinese under Mao Zedong were building a bright future, they received an average of 4 kilograms of meat per person per year (about 11 grams per day). Today, each of the 1 billion 379 million inhabitants of the Celestial Empire roasts, cooks and stews on average 55 kilograms of meat per year. But there is also the population of India, which practically overtook the Chinese comrades in number. And they all dream of catching up on the consumption of delicacies in America (the Yankees consume on average 120 kg of meat per year) or Russia (73 kilos).
However, someone on the planet will still have to tighten their belts. According to scientists, if divided in a brotherly way, then the resources of the Earth will be enough only for the production of 40 kilograms of meat for each of the 7 billion people who inhabit the Earth. But by 2060, the world's population will grow by a quarter - to 9.5 billion!
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However, there is good news for avid meat eaters. Scientists have learned how to grow meat from a test tube, which is in no way inferior to natural meat in taste and nutritional properties.
How artificial meat is made
The coming food crisis is trying to anticipate many developers of artificial meat.
Most producers choose to grow artificial meat from animal stem cells. This is, of course, a more humane way of producing protein than traditional meat production. But at least one animal will have to be sacrificed. Ideally, it looks like this: a cow or a piglet is groomed and nurtured, kept on ecologically clean pastures, and given selective feed. This is done in order to get elite and pure at the cellular level meat, then the animal is “sacrificed”. Its stem cells will become the material for growing hundreds of tons of muscle mass in special bioreactors. The cells are placed in a warm nutrient solution, where they will multiply very quickly until they turn into some kind of minced meat lumps.
The technologies of different companies differ only in nuances. For example, the American company Memphis Meats creates duck and chicken meat in bioreactors, cultivating cells from the embryonic serum of chicks. Israeli startup SuperMeat has relied on growing chicken livers. By the way, SuperMeat, along with two other Israeli laboratories, received a serious contract from the Chinese government. The authorities of the Celestial Empire have so "tasted" the development of biochemists that they have invested 300 million in the development of Israeli technologies for the production of artificial meat. But 300 million are still flowers.
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The winners of the "meat" race will cut a prize of 729 billion dollars - this amount is estimated the volume of the world market for meat production. But all the creators of pork, chicken and other "Frankensteins" are faced with one unappetizing problem. The resulting protein food tastes very remotely like natural meat. The fact is that, although in bioreactors the same conditions are imitated as inside the body of a living being, cultured meat turns out to be porous and elastic.
The problem seems to have been solved by a startup called Impossible Foods, which has achieved the greatest authenticity in terms of flavor. This is especially surprising given that they create their "beef" not from animal cells, but from plant materials. But the company's founder, professor of biochemistry, Patrick Brown, reasoned as follows: real meat is very difficult to grow from cells, because it is a very complex tissue. It consists of tens of thousands of muscle fibers, blood vessels, nerves, layers of adipose and connective tissues. It is much easier to decompose this complex matter into chemical elements and then try to put it together from raw materials of plant origin. Big people believed in the project:Among the investors are the richest man on the planet Bill Gates and the richest businessman in Asia, Hong Kong businessman Li Kashin. Biochemists at Impossible Foods spent 5 years and $ 80 million breaking down the taste of beef into molecules. They studied why raw meat is almost tasteless, but when you put it in a skillet, the kitchen is immediately filled with tempting aromas. Why does a piece of veal sizzle in the pan? Because of what it changes color after heat treatment. What are the substances that create the trademark smell. Why does a piece of veal sizzle in the pan? Because of what it changes color after heat treatment. What are the substances that create the trademark smell. Why does a piece of veal sizzle in the pan? Because of what it changes color after heat treatment. What are the substances that create the trademark smell.
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In the end, it turned out that the key ingredient that gives the meat taste and texture are gems. These compounds are part of hemoglobin. Hemes contain an iron atom, and thanks to this, the blood is able to be saturated with oxygen. Muscle fibers are especially rich in these compounds. These are a kind of building blocks from which a living organism is built. Gems are found not only in living organisms, but also in plants. For example, in soy. True, the percentage of hemes in plant tissues is thousands of times less than in animal tissues. However, biochemists have found a fairly cheap way to synthesize the "secret ingredient" from soy. This plant contains leghemoglobin - complex proteins that also have the ability to bind oxygen and have a great structural similarity to hemoglobin. Scientists attribute this to a common evolutionary origin. The problem was that to produce so much heme, which is in one kilogram of muscle tissue, so much soy is needed that production is far from being profitable.
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However, Patrick Brown and his colleagues managed to overcome this problem by borrowing a solution from the brewers. They used the same fermentation process that produces a divine frothy drink. The genes responsible for the production of leghemoglobin in soy have “planted” the Pichia pastoris yeast strain, which is used in biotechnology to synthesize proteins. The resulting mass was fed with a nutrient solution and heme was obtained at the outlet already in industrial volumes.
In addition, they have reconstructed the smell of meat using plant analogues.
“It’s not difficult to create the desired smell, you just need to know in what proportions to mix the chemicals that make up it,” says Stacey Simonic, a chemist at the University of Oregon.
Food of the future: on sale now
Since 2016, artificial beef has begun its triumphant march through the American catering establishments. It can be tasted in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Texas. Earlier this year, Impossible Foods opened a lab to produce its beef on an industrial scale. The enterprise is capable of synthesizing 454,000 kg of artificial meat per month. That's enough to supply 1,000 restaurants with fake burgers, according to Patrick Brown. He is sure that there will be no end to those wishing to try the curiosity. According to foodies, the only difference is that burgers from Impossible Foods cost $ 12 - twice as expensive.
How to make people in their right minds and strong memory pay twice as much for a burger? The system of manufacturers' arguments looks rather coherent. They appeal to the brightest human feelings.
- Buying a hamburger made from synthetic protein, a person commits a noble deed - he helps society! - says Patrick Brown, a molecular biologist. - To create a kilogram of meat, we need 20 times less farmland and 4 times less water. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 8 times.
How cows spoil the air
- It would seem, what relation do cows have to global climate change. But scientists have calculated that every day a cow eats about 15-20 kilograms of grass.
- During the processing of this green mass, the animal's digestive system releases 500 liters of methane daily.
- In general, the meat industry emits 18 percent of the greenhouse gases produced by mankind into the atmosphere. Air pollution and road transport in about the same way.
Another pioneer of the movement, the Dutch biochemist Mark Post from the University of Maastricht, also puts pressure on consciousness. It was he who, in 2013, presented to the public the world's first cutlet grown from animal stem cells.
“I think that in 25 years, governments will force traditional meat producers to pay an environmental tax,” says the Dutch professor. - Roughly the same is happening in the automotive industry. For example, Germany has announced a ban on the production of cars with internal combustion engines from 2030. This paves the way for greener electric vehicles. I believe that today's children will live to see the day when it will be forbidden to raise animals for slaughter. This will happen in 50-60 years. But even now, traditional meat can be sold with the inscription on the packaging: "An animal suffered and was killed during the production of this product."
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What other alternative ways of food production are developing in the world?
Protein from bacteria
This method was invented by Finnish scientists from the Lappeenranta University of Technology and the VTT Technical Research Center. It is based on the cultivation of special hydrogen bacteria in a biological reactor. These are microorganisms that use carbon as a building material for cells. It is full of atmospheric carbon dioxide. To assimilate carbon, hydrogen bacteria need an energy source - molecular hydrogen (it is no coincidence that they were named after this chemical element). But he is no longer lying on the road. But it is formed in a bioreactor, where water, under the influence of electricity, decomposes into oxygen and hydrogen, so beloved by these bacteria. As a result, the cell mass begins to grow and a nutrient broth is formed in the apparatus. Then the solution is filtered, dried and served as a white powder.
BTW
Without suspecting it, each person eats an average of 5 kilograms of insects in his life, calculated entomologist Oleg Borodin, associate professor of the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Belarusian State University. Larvae, aphids, beetles and worms enter our body mainly along with fruits and vegetables.
Would you like a shitburger?
Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda from Okayama's laboratory took up this foul-smelling scientific topic. He managed to synthesize meat from human waste. Initially commissioned by a Tokyo sewer company, he studied the problems of urban waste disposal. During his research, Ikeda discovered bacteria in the sewer sludge that converted excrement into protein. Ikeda isolated pure protein from the brown mass, seasoned with dyes, flavorings and got another type of artificial meat from the "secondary product" praised by Vladimir Voinovich. The Japanese christened it a shitburger. Its nutritional value is 63% protein, 25% carbohydrates, 3% fat and 9% minerals.
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YAROSLAV KOROBATOV