Sushi prototype from CELL AG TECH
The race to produce lab grown food marches on. So where are we in 2022?
Two years ago, blogger Elisa D’Arcangelo outlined some of the practical issues associated with developing lab grown meat – namely cost, increasing production and taste. She also explained the ethical issues around using a specific animal-derived product called fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is the most common supplement for cell culture growth media. As Elisa put it, “the ethical and environmental implications of using FBS for lab-grown meats are obvious and ugly.” Read her post here.
In 2021, blogger Francesco Zangari wrote about how coastal urbanization is contaminating seafood and proposed cellular agriculture as the solution. As you’ll read in Francesco’s blog, producing lab grown seafood faces the same challenges as lab grown meat: scaling-up production and developing a cost-effective culture medium.
With a growing cellular agriculture industry in Canada and globally, it is only a matter of time before these issues are worked out. Will that result in these alternative proteins becoming a mainstay of our diets? We have the precedent of GMO foods to suggest that marketing will play a crucial role in whether the public finds these foods appetizing. While some will respond to the exciting science behind producing alternative proteins, others will be more receptive if the environmental impact of meat production and overfishing are emphasized. Not to mention the ethics of eating animals and how they are farmed for our consumption, and also that cellular aquaculture offers a safe option to polluted seafood. More good reasons to adopt these alternative protein sources.
Plus, according to new research commissioned for the World Economic Forum, “By 2050, global food systems will need to meet the dietary demands of more than 10 billion people who on average will be wealthier than people today and will aspire to the type of food choices currently available only in high‑income countries. This food will have to be produced sustainably in ways that contribute to reducing climate change, and that address other environmental challenges. At the same time, human health is influenced more by food than by any other single factor, and facilitating healthy diets is critical both for individual well‑being and containing the costs of treating illnesses. It is widely recognized that the current trajectory of the food system will not allow us to meet these goals.” (Emphasis mine.)
It does appear that we’re making progress. One of the issues repeatedly identified in the production of cellular agriculture is scaling up. Francesco wrote that the bioreactors needed to grow the animal tissue have not been developed yet. Or have they? Canadian company CELL AG TECH is partnering with CCRM to scale up their cell manufacturing process for cell-based fish products. The two organizations will collaborate to develop a cost-effective and efficient manufacturing process for fish cells in bioreactors.
And if seeing is believing – the adage is that we eat with our eyes first – CELL AG TECH may have overcome the taste challenge too. Their sushi prototype – see the image at the top of this post – definitely looks good enough to eat.
Watch this fascinating report on the future of food that mentions CELL AG TECH and other Canadian startups.
Stacey Johnson
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