K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Would you eat a burger made out of CO2 captured from the air?

July 8, 2019 - from Fast Company:

"Solar Foods, a Finland-based company, has developed a process to use renewable electricity and CO2 to produce a healthy ingredient that looks like wheat flour and contains 50% protein. The company is currently gathering data to apply for a food license from the EU later this year and plans to begin commercial production in 2021."

"Food made through fermentation, like beer or lab-grown meat, currently relies on feeding plant sugars to microbes. The new process replaces those sugars with carbon."

"The process uses solar power to split water through electrolysis in a bioreactor, creating hydrogen that can give microbes energy as they’re also fed carbon. The microbes produce a food that’s composed of roughly 20-25% carbs, 5-10% fat, and 50% protein."

"The new protein powder, called Solein, claims to be 100 times more climate-friendly than any animal or even plant-based alternative. It can yield 10 times more usable protein per acre than soy production, the company says."

Solein "as an ingredient in products like protein shakes, perhaps, or plant-based yogurt."

"Further in the future, the ingredient could be used to 3D-print new foods or used as a feedstock for “clean meat” grown in bioreactors."

"Because the process is fully disconnected from traditional agriculture, the company is also working with the European Space Agency as a potential source of food for astronauts in space (this concept was something that NASA first considered in the middle of the 20th century but never brought to life). The company also envisions eventually working in areas that haven’t been able to support agriculture in the past, such as deserts or the Arctic. It might spawn new business models in the future: If you sell the company solar power from your roof, for example, you might be paid back in food."

" The company plans to start preengineering its first commercial plant later this year and to have 50 million meals’ worth of product sold in supermarkets within two years."