At Solar Foods in Finland, scientists are using new technology to grow protein out of cells using air and electricity.
At Solar Foods, the “farmers of the future” are making a new food protein by feeding microbe air and electricity.
Cellular agriculture, where food or nutrients are grown from cell cultures, is increasingly seen as a green alternative to animal agriculture. Lab-grown meat, eggs and milk have made headlines in recent years, with scientists using animal cell cultures. Some have criticized this as unnatural, highly processed, energy-consuming, and costly.
At Solar Foods, scientists are feeding a microbe with carbon dioxide, hydrogen and some minerals, and powering the process with electricity from renewable sources. This way, the company has managed to create a protein-rich powder that can be used as a milk and egg substitute.
“We can source our main feedstock for the microbe from the air,” Solar Foods chief executive Pasi Vainikka says.
“We have started the production of the world’s most sustainable protein.”
The protein has already been cleared for sale in Singapore where some restaurants have used it to make ice cream. However, it is still waiting classification as a food product in the EU and the United States.
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