Home-grown, deathless meat? It's already here

A French start-up, Gourmey, has filed the first application for authorization to sell cultivated meat under the EU Novel Foods Regulation. The start-up, which has raised €65 million in investment, produces French foie gras. This delicacy has long raised ethical concerns due to its production methods and animal suffering, and other "sustainable gourmet products" made from non-GMO animal cells. In 2023, cultivated chicken products were approved in the U.S., and Singapore authorised cultivated meat in 2020.

The start-up employs cell culture technology, starting with small cells that differentiate into muscle, fat, and other tissues.

Alternative proteins are considered crucial for building globally sustainable food systems. Compared to conventional production, they significantly reduce emissions, land, and water use and avoid the use of antibiotics. Diversifying protein production is also key to enhancing food security.

According to the IPCC, the increasing effects of global warming and ecological crises will reveal the limits of adaptation in agricultural production.

Technology and innovation, however, are making significant strides. A confluence of advances in biological sciences with the accelerating development of computing, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) is fueling a new wave of innovation that could significantly impact economies and societies, from health and agriculture to consumer goods and energy. 

A 2020 report estimates that up to 60 percent of global physical inputs, including both biological and non-biological materials, could be produced biologically. 

As part of this wave, the European Innovation Council (EIC) funded Finnish company Solar Foods has opened the first factory to produce 160 tons of food from electricity and air. A bioprocess ferments a protein powder called solein, from a natural, non-modified microorganism. Solein has already been approved in Singapore.

The potential is huge. Agriculture requires vast amounts of water and land, and new technologies aim to break the link between soil and food, effectively launching a revolution in food production. Some European conservatives are already opposing these advancements.

Italy and Hungary have already passed national laws banning cultivated meat. In January, a group of EU countries issued a note highlighting the risks of such technologies and the potential for concentrating food production in the hands of a few large companies.

Currently, global agricultural markets are dominated by a few large producers controlling key sectors of the agri-food industry: fertilizers, chemicals, seeds, raw materials, machinery, livestock genetics, and processing. Innovation, however, could open the field to start-ups and new players.

For example, an innovative company initially funded by the EU Commission through the Horizon program has developed a potentially disruptive solution to address the problem of synthetic fertilizers. Industrial agriculture has enormous negative impacts on the environment. Nitrogen pollution causes nitrogen-tolerant species to thrive and outcompete sensitive wild plants reducing wildlife diversity and damaging plant health. Excessive application of synthetic fertilizers has been shown to acidify soils too, damaging soil health and reducing the productivity of soils. None of these had a more dramatic impact than the ability to produce synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

In this context, Crop Intellect Ltd has invented a disruptive technology that captures nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution from the atmosphere and converts it to nitrates to feed plants. In principle, R-Leaf photocatalysts break down the nitrogen oxides to nitrate on the surface of the plants, which is then absorbed as fertilizer. Studies have confirmed that the application of the biofertiliser improves the crop’s productivity by 13-20 percent.

The economy of the future will be a matter of good, sustainable innovation. For Europe, there's also the challenge of keeping markets. Once again, the challenge comes from China. Beijing is heavily investing in supporting the development of this sector, as it has already done with solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, and electric vehicles.

In 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched a national program, "Green Biological Manufacturing," which funds research into plant-based proteins and cultivated meat. Chinese scientists have developed a process to convert CO2 into starch.

In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture included cultivated meat and other "foods of the future," such as plant-based eggs, in its five-year plan for agriculture and food security plan.

As technology improves, barriers to large-scale production and distribution remain. China's influence could shift this situation by encouraging investments and creating a significant market for the next green revolution.

Cooperation can help both sides to accelerate and do better.