Lab-grown responses to food’s threefold threat

Lab-grown responses to food’s threefold threat

Sustainable Future

A severe food crisis could be the impetus for laboratory-grown and other food alternatives to thrive. But it will not be without its own challenges, says Élisabeth Abergel

Opinion: Climate-related disasters, the outbreak of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are a toxic triple combination for food security.

One recent world report estimated that the number of people in food crisis has doubled since 2016. The problem is exacerbated by rising fertilizer and energy costs and declining drought-driven regional grain stocks.

Supply chains carry the impact of these cascade effects, making it difficult for food systems to adapt sustainably. But technology startups and large food corporations are finding new ways to disrupt traditional food systems and supply chains – for many, the toxic triple combination offers an opportunity. Affordable, sustainable, alternative protein foods are gradually becoming a commercial reality. We now see meat, seafood, dairy and eggs made entirely from plant-based analogues or laboratory-grown foods. One company even creates alternative proteins from the air we breathe.

Laboratory-grown meat involves a combination of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, biomedical engineering and biomaterial science that enables stem cells harvested from living animals to grow and multiply in a bioreactor. As cells combine in tissues, natural or synthetic scaffolding material enables cell attachment, replicating the 3D multicellular structure of meat. Depending on the complexity of the final product, whether it is minced meat or steak, tissues can be harvested directly from the bioreactor or may undergo further design steps prior to final assembly.

Scientists also produce meat using 3D bioprinting technology, where successive layers of cells (or bioink) with computer-aided design are deposited on a substrate and grown into muscle fibers. Scientists at Osaka University recently created Wagyu beef using bioprinting. They aim to automate cell-based meat production by 2025.

But all that glitter is not gold. While some companies are striving to end famine and animal husbandry in large industrial manufacturing facilities – such as Upside Foods’ new meat plant in California – others are proposing “micro-carnivores”, similar to craft breweries, that focus on niche markets and urban consumers. Either way, it indicates a shift in the production of cellular products from rural to urban centers.

Despite advances, the field of cell culture faces high production costs, bioreactor design errors and food safety issues. Many cell-based start-ups still rely on Fetal Bovine Serum as a source of nutrients, which weakens the industry’s animal-free ethical claims. Products grown in laboratories combine new technologies developed for biomedical purposes with food production. Their arrival in the food space creates challenges over adequate regulations and labeling requirements.

Plant-based analogues represent another sustainable food path. Advanced fermentation technologies are used in the production of plant-based meat, dairy and egg alternatives using synthetic biology or genetically engineered proteins in yeast or bacteria.

Fermentation provides large quantities of raw materials at relatively low cost, but also plays a key role in supporting plant-based and cultivated meat industries. For example, the bleeding in the Impossible Burger is created by leg hemoglobin, a soy protein made from yeast. As the production of farmed meat is scaled up, fermentation will grow large volumes of nutrients and ingredients for cell culture.

While this new food technology may seem promising, plant-based meats still have unsustainable aspects. The narrow focus on protein as a solution obscures the diversity of animal and other farming practices that can contribute to climate-friendly food security.

As beginners rush to normalize alternative protein products in our diet, massive retrenchments in the biotechnology sector could threaten the expansion of these industries or at least reduce the number of companies operating in the space.

Another possible solution involves genome editing techniques such as CRISPR, which aim to increase crop yields and create disease-resistant animals. The US-based firm Recombinetics recently bred genetically modified Angus cows to have short, smooth fur, making them more ‘efficient’ in warm climates. Gene editing promises to be cheaper than GM technology and faster than conventional breeding. Meat from gene-edited animals is also on the horizon.

No editing does not place foreign genes in plants or animals taken; however, the technique can bring unintended effects and potential risks with unknown health and environmental consequences. The US and the UK do not require an extensive review process to bring these plants and animals to market. However, the EU plans to regulate them as GMOs and demands stricter regulations.

While the promises of high-tech food to save the planet and feed the world rest on the changing dietary habits of consumers and their willingness to eat food that has never been eaten, the extent to which it will disrupt the global food system remains uncertain. The challenges facing future food revolve around the feasibility, transparency and reality of technology to bring about social change and solve environmental issues.

Élisabeth Abergel is Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Institute of Environmental Science at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info ™.