An American start-up has just made headlines with a rather amazing innovation! Indeed, it is about making meat from air. As curious as it may seem, it could well be an interesting alternative to current meat products.
Producing meat from "nearly nothing" was something you had to think about! This idea comes from the Californian start-up Air Protein, as explained by CNET in an article of November 12, 2019. The objective was to obtain an artificial meat in order to respond to the problem linked to the increase in meat consumption throughout the world.
Originally, the product produced by Air Protein looks like some kind of powder. And yet, it is composed of elements found in the air , including CO2, oxygen and nitrogen. Said powder is obtained by mixing the aforementioned elements with water and nutrients. According to the start-up, this artificial meat also contains essential amino acids, including phenylalanine, valine, isoleucine and lysine.
You should also know that Air Protein has decided to include vitamin B12 in its product. However, the latter usually present in animal products is often lacking in vegetarians. Thus, this fake meat would ultimately suit any diet.
Head of Air Protein, Lisa Dyson explained where she got the idea to start this company. In fact, when she realized that single-celled organisms were capable of transforming CO2 into nutrients , she figured humans could do it too. Lisa Dyson thinks in particular that her solution could be reproduced in space thanks to the carbon cycle (see diagram below).
Obviously this new food is pretty hard to pin down , especially in terms of long-term health . Nevertheless, on the environmental side, there seems to be little doubt:the effects should be positive. Anyway, Air Protein will have to wait for the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before starting any marketing of its product.
Remember that before this air-based powdered meat, some laboratories and other start-ups had worked on other alternatives . Let’s mention for example the 3D printed vegetable meat steak, but also the fake meat steaks from Impossible Foods that have been marketed for a few months in supermarkets across the Atlantic!
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