Ep. 01: Inside the Revolution

It is time for a major food revolution. The way we source animal protein has remained the same for thousands of years. We grow crops to feed to animals and rear those animals to eat their meat. But this system is broken - in terms of resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. Add to that antibiotic resistance and zoonotic diseases and it’s clear that protein is no longer healthy for humans or this planet. But, as companies like Beyond Meat, Memphis Meats, and Impossible Foods are showing, a new way is possible. With meat made from plants or cultivated from cells, we could finally shift away from animal rearing as a platform and make the jump to a post-scarcity vision of protein. Join hosts Varun Deshpande and Ramya Ramamurthy of the Good Food Institute India as they set the stage with their colleagues Dhruvi Narsaria, Aishorjyo Ghosh and Siddharth Bhide, and talk about how they are driving this food revolution. Here is everything you wanted to know about plant-based and cell-based meat, eggs and dairy but didn’t know where to look: GFI Library of Essential Reading:  DEFINITIONS: PLANT-BASED MEAT Plant-based food refers to meat, eggs and dairy made from plants. They use a bio-mimicry approach to replicate the taste and texture of meat while some plant-forward products like seitan, tofu and tempeh, serve as functional meat replacements. Although not biologically classified as plants, fungi and algae based products are also included in plant-based foods.  CELL-BASED MEAT Cell-based meat also referred to as cultivated meat or clean meat is genuine animal meat that can replicate the sensory and nutritional profile of conventionally produced meat. It is actual meat grown from cells outside of an animal. It is comprised of the same cell types and arranged in the same 3D structure as animal tissue.  DEFINITIONS: Scientific terminology used on the show: Gellation: Gelation may be theoretically defined as a protein aggregation phenomenon in which polymer-polymer and polymer-solvent interactions and in which attractive and repulsive forces are so balanced that a well ordered tertiary network or matrix is formed. This matrix is capable of immobilizing or trapping extremely large amounts of water. Source: SCHMIDT, R. H. 1981. Gelation and Coagulation. Protein Functionality in Foods, 131–147. doi:10.1021/bk-1981-0147.ch007 Retorting: The retort processing of food is a process of terminal thermal sterilization of pouched packed ready to eat food. Food is prepared by conventional method and then it is packed in the retort pouch available for different types of food. Finally these pouches are sterilized by using “Retort Process Sterilizers”. Maru A. and Musyuni P. Advancement in Food Technology through retort processing and food safety guidelines. International Journal of Applied Biology and Pharmaceutical Technology. Volume: 2: Issue-3: July-Sept -2011.  Homogenization: Homogenization of dispersed systems suspensions and emulsions refers to the reduction of the size of the dispersed particles by applying some sort of shearing process. Several homogenization methods are in use and they differ in the mechanism of applying shear to the fluid. Zeki Berk, Chapter 8 - Production of single-strength citrus juices, Editors: Zeki Berk, Citrus Fruit Processing, Academic Press, 2016, Pages 127-185, ISBN 9780128031339, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803133-9.00008-4. LINKS: If you want to know more about the companies and products discussed on the show, do check out these profiles: Impossible Foods Beyond Meat GFI Founder Bruce Friedrich’s Wired Article: Nerds over cattle, how food technology will save the world. GFI Founder Bruce Friedrich’s TED Talk on the next global agricultural revolution.  3D Meat Printing Jo’s 2050 dream of 3D printing meat may not be that far off. Bio-printing has so far been used to build 3D tissues and organ structures for regenerative medicine but this technology can be adapted to build meat products for consumption. Companies like Nova Meat and Redefine Meat are working right now to bring 3D meat to market.   For more, please read: https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/05/novameat-has-a-platform-for-3d-printing-steaks-and-has-new-money-to-take-it-to-market/ https://www.fooddive.com/news/redefine-meat-raises-6m-to-produce-3d-printed-meat-alternatives/562828/ You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios