As reported by Carbon Brief, “If the world is to meet its target of limiting global warming to ‘well below’ 2ºC, some degree of diet shift will be necessary. If it is to strive for the most optimistic target of keeping warming to 1.5ºC, changes to diet may be even more crucial.” The industrial revolution may have been one of the defining forces that brought Earth to the state it is currently in, but new advances in agriculture, science, and engineering are the only way out of this conundrum. What technologies will be shaping the food industry and which novel ingredients are likely to play a key role in our dietary regimens?

The Rise and Rise of Plant-Based Substitutes

Veganism is one of the decisive forces shaping the current food industry and there are three main interests behind its boom: health, animal rights, and sustainability. It is predicted that one in 10 people will embrace this lifestyle within the next 10 years. The current pandemic has certainly highlighted the importance of fighting for our planet, and food is a key weapon if human beings are to succeed in reversing the havoc they have wreaked for centuries.

Technology is making veganism a simpler, more appealing choice than ever before thanks to brands like Beyond Meat. The latter makes burgers with flavours and textures that are very similar to ‘the real thing’ using a technology that heats, cools, and pressurises plant-based products until they obtain the fibrous texture of meat. Other ingredients are then mixed with this base – including fats, minerals, fruit, spices, and vegetable colours – all of which help mimic the juiciness and appearance of meat. Of course, vegan products now extend way beyond burgers, with the list of tempting items including vegan chicken strips, plant-based cheese, and vegan bacon (made by dehydrating zucchini with smokey spices that lend the treat the characteristic crunch and smokiness of bacon).

Precision Fermentation and Synthetic Biology

Precision fermentation and synthetic biology are two trending technologies aimed at producing alternative protein sources. According to Eatable Adventures, these technologies are predicted to match ‘and even surpass’ animal sources. Precision fermentation involves programming microorganisms to produce complex organic molecules such as protein. Synthetic biology, meanwhile, relies on cell-based alternatives to create entire cuts of meat (including chops, steak, and other traditional meats) with nutritional values similar to those of the ‘originals’. Cell-based technology can even imitate the marbling appearance of meat, as well as its colour and structure.

Vertical Farming

Agricultural land occupies approximately five billion hectares (or 38 per cent of the world’s land surface) – a malady that vertical farming (VF) seeks to counteract. VF involves growing crops in vertically stacked layers, indoors. Every VF tower requires 12 per cent of the land required to produce a similar crop yield outdoors. Through this method, evaporation is reduced so less water is needed. The VF system also propagates climate resilience (as plants can be grown year-round) and energy savings (since the towers can be used to store energy that can be subsequently obtained from a renewable energy grid when required). Companies like Freight Farms (which use these methods) report that using solar energy yields a 55 per cent lower carbon footprint than industrial farming.

Drone Technologies

Savvy farmers are already using drones equipped with sensors and cameras to evaluate crop growth throughout the season and to determine respective growth rates in specific parts of fields. Drones enable farmers to apply a more personalised approach – applying more fertiliser, for instance, to the plants that require assistance and reducing the amounts applied to other plants if necessary. Michigan State University Professor, Bruno Basso, explains that remotely sensed data, when coupled with new algorithms, allows farmers to accurately quantify nitrogen losses from fields. Newly developed software, meanwhile, is used to obtain detailed calculations on nutrient, water, and carbon balances of entire crop systems. Farmers can therefore manage their fields efficiently while ensuring that nitrogen and phosphorus stay in the soil instead of running into rivers.

Hyperspectral Imaging

Another technology enabling farmers to glean the state of their crops is hyperspectral imaging (which monitors disease early so that action can be taken before produce is destroyed). This technology uses 42 measurements of spectrum (as opposed to the five-to-seven measurements used by multispectral cameras) to provide farmers with ultra-detailed information regarding even the tiniest changes taking place in the physiology of a plant. Thus, farmers can discover nutrient deficiencies, diseases, and other problems at very early stages.

Embracing Alternative Protein Sources

“There is life beyond plant-based protein sources,” say researchers from Eatable Adventures, who are heralding the diversification of the alternative protein market. Top alternative ingredients being investigated include red algae (used by the company Triton Algae), chlorella (by Algenuity), mycelium (by Meati Foods), and unicellular protein (by Noblegen). If you have any doubt about how amazingly good these foods can look, check out MyBacon by Atlast Food Co, made from mycelium (mushrooms). Atlast’s mycelium grows in layers just 30 microns thick and this product can be fine-tuned in terms of its strength, porosity, and texture. The list of products that can be made from mycelium includes whole cuts like chicken breasts and steak.

The future of sustainable food has begun and forecasts for the growth of plant-based and alternative products continue to be very optimistic. New technological advances are making it possible to scale up and manufacture competitively priced items that can be afforded by a larger number of consumers. Indeed, affordability is arguably the key pillar of success for all these new technologies, for it is only when sustainable products are consumed on a mass scale that a significant change can be realised in terms of reducing the colossal size of our current carbon footprint.