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Engineering the animal out of animal products

Nature Biotechnology volume 35, pages 704–707 (2017)Cite this article

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Amber Dance reports on a new wave of domestication—turning cells, rather than animals, into food.

Finless Foods is one of a handful of recent startups that aim to re-create foods by growing only the tissues people eat in bioreactors, making animal products minus extraneous parts like fins and hooves. Others are trying to make substitutes of animal products for consumer goods (Box 1). Some companies, like Finless Foods, are trying to turn stem cells into meat, whereas others are using microbes to produce acellular products, such as milk or egg proteins. Some of these latter products are already edging into the market: Geltor, of San Leandro, California, shipped its first animal-free collagen this June. Still other companies are pressing ahead with plant-based products that aim to mimic the real thing in a way no garden-variety Gardenburger can. For example, in several US cities you can eat burgers, made with only plant products, with heme added for that 'bloody' flavor and look.

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Figure 1: Estimated environmental impacts of producing 1000 kg of cultured meat.

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  1. Los Angeles

    Amber Dance

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  1. Amber Dance
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Dance, A. Engineering the animal out of animal products. Nat Biotechnol 35, 704–707 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3933

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