From Stage 1: Food Production, we found out that agriculture and the cultivation of animal products can be resource-intensive and cause environmental degradation. With technological advancement, there have been research and experiments done to source for alternative methods of food production to meet the growing population and demand for food. “Growing food in labs is one solution that creates more food with less space and damage to the environment if we can find a way to produce it cost-effectively at scale” (Marr, 2019).
Lab Manufactured Milk
A Singaporean biotech start-up, TurtleTree Labs won the Entrepreneurship World Cup 2020 (Ho, 2020). They used cell-based methods to make milk, by extracting fresh cells from the milk of mammals and growing them using a special formula. After the cells lactate, it undergoes a filtration process and milk is obtained (TurtleTree Labs, 2020). This innovative method of food production can reduce our reliance on agriculture lands, water and energy, hence minimising environmental impacts. The manufacturing of dairy products, such as yoghurt, cheese and ice cream have also been developed by other companies such as Perfect Day in Silicon Valley (Carrington, 2018).
Cultured Lab Meat
Just Inc, a food tech company has produced a scrambled egg replacement and lab-grown nuggets (Khoo, 2020). This mode of production will be mostly slaughter-free, aside from cattle killed to source the meat starter cells during the research phase. And it won’t require the vast amounts of water, land, fertiliser and other inputs used for conventional cattle farming.
Another company is Solar Foods, a Finland-based startup which aims to make ‘food out of thin air’ (Seely, 2020). They grow living microbes in a fermenter (a process very similar to brewing beer) and feed them with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The protein, a yellow powder, has multiple food uses. It can be mixed with oat milk and fried on a pan for pancakes or added as a protein additive in foods like noodles and bread.
Although research and experiments are still being carried out to create the right texture and the nutritional level of the real food, it may be possible that cultured-meat, 3D printed food or lab-grown dairy products will be available on our supermarket shelves within a decade.
Implications of Lab-Grown food
Technology can change our food production methods and “save billions of animals from immense suffering, and fight global warming by reducing the number of methane-producing cattle” (Samuel, 2019). However, we are not entirely sure of the environmental implications that these processes might have.
Firstly, this industrial shift may have social, cultural implications where farmers may lose their livelihood, leading to a loss of cultural identity or shift in the economy of agricultural societies (Seely, 2020). With benefits from technology in reducing our environmental impact, we also need to rethink the implications for people and strategies to help them upgrade their skills to cope and engage in other parts of the food supply chain.
Studies also suggest that lab-grown meat may actually accelerate climate change due to the huge amounts of carbon dioxide produced from labs. Agriculture, especially cows produce a lot of methane which causes climate change, but methane only lasts in the atmosphere for a dozen years while carbon dioxide lasts more than a century (McGraft 2019). Nonetheless, there may be other strategies to mitigate this in the future, such as regulations for cleaner emissions or the development of cleaner sources of energy (Marr, 2019). Also as consumers, we should also not be overly dependent on food production methods, but rethink our foodprints and attempt to reduce our consumption of animal products too.
Here’s a question for you to think about: Would you be willing to eat cultured meat? Do you think such production methods could change our relationship with the environment?
Trailing off,
Jade and Ridzuan
References
Carrington, D. (2018). The new food: meet the startups racing to reinvent the meal. The Guardian. [online] 30 Apr. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/30/lab-grown-meat-how-a-bunch-of-geeks-scared-the-meat-industry [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
Ho, G. (2020). Local start-up wins global award for making milk without the need for cows or humans. The Straits Times. [online] 25 Oct. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/local-start-up-wins-global-award-for-making-milk-without-the-need-for-cows-or-humans? [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
Khoo, R. (2020). Petri dishes: is lab-grown meat a mass-market, environmentally sound food fix? The Guardian. [online] 29 Jul. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jul/29/petri-dishes-is-lab-grown-meat-a-mass-market-environmentally-sound-food-fix [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
Marr, B. (2019). The Future of Food: Amazing Lab Grown And 3D Printed Meat And Fish. Forbes. [online] 28 Jun. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/06/28/the-future-of-food-amazing-lab-grown-and-3d-printed-meat-and-fish/?sh=269d782646f6 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
McGrath, M. (2019). Cultured lab meat may make climate change worse. BBC News. [online] 19 Feb. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47283162 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
Samuel, S. (2019). Is lab-grown meat actually worse for the environment? Vox. [online] 22 Feb. Available at: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/22/18235189/lab-grown-meat-cultured-environment-climate-change [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
Seely, H. (2020). Lab-Grown Food in 2020: Creepy or Carbon-Friendly? [online] Eco Warrior Princess. Available at: https://ecowarriorprincess.net/2020/01/lab-grown-food-2020-creepy-or-carbon-friendly/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
TurtleTree Labs. (2020). TurtleTree Labs. [online] Available at: https://turtletreelabs.com/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2020].
