Animals
One Can Be Too Smart
In another test of the intelligence of pigs, researchers at Purdue University asked them to play video games. Four porcines were taught to use their snouts to manipulate joysticks to navigate a cursor through obstacles on a screen and when successful, received a treat. The results showed that pigs, already considered to be among the smartest of animals, had more aptitude and intelligence than anticipated and can take on more complex assignments. They didn’t do as well as monkeys given similar tasks, however, but there’s a big difference between driving a joystick with your snout versus using a hand with an opposable thumb! Testing had to be suspended after 12 weeks because Hamlet and Omelette became too big for the video game enclosure. Victims of their own success? Maybe not so smart after all!
Food
Losing Biodiversity to Livestock
Two new studies say global meat production is wiping out thousands of species by destroying species-rich forests and natural habitats to create land for farmed animals and the crops to feed them. Research, published in Nature, found that continuing the current rates of meat production and consumption threatens the habitats of more than 17,000 of the species studied. And more than a thousand species will lose at least 25 percent of their habitats by 2050 increasing the likelihood they’ll go extinct. Research from Chatham House also concluded the current food system’s unrelenting conversion of natural habitats into farmland is the primary driver of biodiversity loss. Our planet’s previously diverse animal population has largely been replaced by farmed livestock and researchers say we must cut back on the amount of meat we eat and change how we farm.
the Climate Crisis
Healing Self-Inflicted Wounds
Transforming our relationship with nature will tackle all three of our self-inflicted planetary crises — climate, biodiversity loss and pollution — and secure a sustainable future while preventing future pandemics. A new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for governments to phase out and redirect some of the US$5 trillion in annual subsidies to fossil fuels, non-sustainable agriculture and fishing, and non-renewable energy, towards low-carbon and nature-friendly solutions. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says “food systems are one of the main reasons we are failing to stay within our planet’s ecological boundaries,” and he calls for investments to transform global food production and consumption to create “biodiversity-positive agriculture and fisheries, reducing our overexploitation and destruction of the natural world.”
words of wisdom
“How do we change the mindset towards animals? We believe animals are things … we must admit the cruelty we are inflicting … we need to create a new relationship with nature and animals to avoid new pandemics.”
— Dr. Jane Goodall.
“Our food system was originally designed to be cheap and broadly accessible without considering the implications for the health of animals, plants, the planet and people.”
— Prof. Tim Benton, Research Director of Emerging Risks at Chatham House.
Photo: Ossi Saarinen www.instagram.com/soosseli
on the horizon
Perfect Day Foods uses fermentation to create the world’s first real milk proteins made without animals. Photo: Perfect Day.
Fermentation Poised to Power the Alt-Protein Industry
People are becoming more aware of plant-based meats as they appear on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus. And cultivated – or cell-based meat – is also attracting attention after recently debuting in a Singapore restaurant. However, there is a third platform emerging in the alternative protein industry and that is fermentation. And it has the potential to become a major player according to a new report from The Good Food Institute pointing out it can act not only as a primary source of proteins but as an enabler for both plant-based products and cultivated animal products.
What is fermentation?
Fermentation is a process that uses microorganisms e.g., fungi, bacteria, microalgae and other microbes, to produce alternative proteins. It already has a long history in food production e.g., to preserve foods, create alcoholic beverages, and improve the nutritional value and bioavailability of foods such as yogurt. Most people are already regularly consuming products that rely on fermentation.
What are the different types of fermentation?
Traditional fermentation is the process of changing a food through microbial anaerobic digestion. This is how beer, wine, yogurt, and cheese are made and it can be used to improve the flavour of plant ingredients e.g., tempeh.
Photo: Brendio at wts Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Biomass fermentation uses the high-protein content and rapid growth of microorganisms to make large amounts of protein-rich food. In this application, the microorganisms that reproduce through this process are themselves ingredients for alternative proteins.
Precision fermentation uses microorganisms to produce specific functional ingredients e.g., insulin for diabetes and rennet for cheese, and enables alternative protein producers to efficiently make specific proteins, enzymes, flavour molecules, vitamins, pigments and fats.
According to the report, fermentation has the capability to play a role across the alt-protein sector. For example, traditional fermentation can help optimize the digestibility, taste, texture and nutrients of the ingredients for plant-based meat, eggs and dairy. Ingredients made with biomass fermentation or precision fermentation can also be combined with plant-based ingredients to make better plant-based meat.
On the cultivated meat side, precision fermentation can help produce nutrients and growth factors for cell culture media. And, proteins such as collagen or fibronectin produced through fermentation may serve as key animal-free components of scaffolding for more complex cultivated meat products.
What Are the Benefits of Fermentation?
Like plant-based and cultivated meat, fermentation-derived protein offers benefits for people, animals and the planet. For example, mycelium, microalgae, microbes and fermented plant proteins can provide the sensory experiences and nutrition of animal products without the cholesterol, antibiotics and hormones.
The microorganisms used in fermentation also reproduce and grow very quickly — in hours rather than weeks or months or even years for animals. Also, many of these organisms are extremely high in protein and, when facilities are scaled up, biomass fermentation can produce many tons of biomass every hour.
This efficient protein production is also much more sustainable. It releases far fewer pollutants and GHGs, as well as saving water and land compared with livestock food production.
The growing fermentation market sector
As the report points out, hundreds of companies are already using fermentation to make ingredients and materials, and many are now diversifying into the alternative protein sector. There are also dozens of startups focused primarily on using fermentation for alternative proteins and the industry is attracting funding from investors, food companies and governments.
If the past few years are any indication, fermentation looks ready to become a key component in driving the global shift towards alternative proteins. Its versatility and untapped potential as a source of primary protein-rich biomass, and its ability to produce a wide range of popular ingredients can power the next generation of alternative protein products to even greater acceptance, availability and success.
perspective
Photo: Cd design85, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Alt-Protein Offers Big Opportunities For Farmers
Every week, it seems, there is a new authoritative scientific study setting out the urgent need to change how we grow our food and what we eat in order to fight the climate crisis. While the strategic blueprint for change is clear, the on-the-ground tactical details on how we transition to new food systems, more plant-based eating and reduce the damage caused by animal and monoculture agriculture are less clear.
However, a new study in Frontiers In Sustainable Food Systems identifies significant opportunities and some threats for farmers and rural communities as the market shifts towards alternative proteins.
The researchers explored the potential impact of plant-based meats and cultivated meat (lab-based, no-kill meat, grown from animal cells in a bioreactor), by interviewing a broad range of US experts involved in the traditional food/farming sectors and new alt-protein businesses.
“Most interviewees thought it likely that alt-meat would … capture some or all of the anticipated growing demand for protein rather than one that displaced animal meat entirely,” the report says.
The opportunities included new markets for growing crops for plant-based meat companies, especially as companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods reach scale. Farmers can also diversify into higher value protein crops, such as peas, lentils and mung beans that can offer higher profit margins and additional income. Also, legume crops provide environmental benefits such as enhancing soil health, reducing the need for fertilizer and reducing runoff.
Researchers say that animal farmers could also diversify to produce plants, algae, mycoprotein, seaweed or other alternative protein products. Success stories include: former dairy farmers in the US and Europe working with the plant-based milk company Oatly, to transition to growing oats; former chicken farmers working with Mercy for Animals' Transfarmation project to convert poultry sheds for mushroom production; and Refarm'd which is working with former dairy farmers to create animal sanctuaries and produce plant-based milk.
In the emerging cultivated meat sector, opportunities include growing feedstock for cell culture mediums, and growing cultivated meat in bioreactors on farms similar to craft beer production.
Photo: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Also, both plant-based and cultivated meat production facilities could create new employment opportunities in rural areas. Maple Leaf Foods recently constructed a new $310 million plant-based food facility in Indiana and Beyond Meat's production is based in Missouri.
The amount of land needed to grow ingredients and feedstocks for plant-based and cultivated meat is projected to be far less than that required for animal agriculture. If pasture or animal crop land becomes surplus because of a shift in consumer demand, landowners could receive payments for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration or biodiversity conservation generated by habitat restoration.
The threats the study identified from new food sectors included loss of livelihood or income for some ranchers and livestock producers and for farmers growing crops for animal feed.
For farmers that are relatively locked into the animal feed sector, most of their assets “may be tied to corn and soy production in ways that could make it difficult to transition into alternatives or that would make transitions too costly.”
Transition risks were thought to be highest for chicken and pig farmers many of whom are locked into “consolidated, vertically-integrated systems by virtue of unfavourable contracts”, and hamstrung by existing debt. Interestingly, the study did not address the benefits of redirecting some of the massive government subsidies for agriculture to farmers wanting to transition into the plant-based and cultivated meat business.
The deeper dive
Photo: Kari Sullivan from Austin, TX, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Plant-Based Eating and Climate Action Could Save Millions
Climate action focused on cleaner air, better diet and exercise can save millions of lives according to new research. And by far the biggest health benefit of more ambitious measures to tackle the climate crisis comes from more balanced, plant-based eating.
The study, published in Lancet Planetary Health, looked at emissions generated from energy, agriculture and transport sectors, along with annual deaths attributed to air pollution, diet-related risk factors and physical inactivity.
The researchers then mapped how climate action to cut emissions across these three sectors would save lives through better, more plant-based diets, more physical activity such as walking and cycling, and cuts to air pollution from burning fewer fossil fuels.
Even though one might think that cutting air pollution would have the biggest impact, (91% of people globally breathe air that does not meet UN air quality standards), the study found that by far the highest number of people saved and the biggest health dividend comes from healthier diets, a factor that has not been central to climate policies.
Adopting Paris-standard climate plans and prioritizing health, could save 6.4 million lives due to better diet, 1.6 million lives due to cleaner air, and 2.1 million lives due to increased exercise, annually by 2040. These findings came from the study of nine nations (Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and US) which account for 50% of the global population and 70% of global GHG emissions.
“The health benefits of mitigation in the food and agricultural sector are broadly seen as a result of a transition to more nutritious diets, in the form of increased consumption of fruit and vegetables, and reductions in the consumption of red meat and processed foods,” the report says.
The chart below shows the dramatic impact of how changing what we eat affects life expectancy.
Half of the deaths avoided were due to changes in dietary risks, including decreased intake of red meat (22%), increased intake of fruits and vegetables (15%), legumes (9%), along with nuts, seeds and fish. The other half was due to reductions in obesity (22%), being underweight (15%), and being overweight (11%).
Source: Lancet Planetary Health. The ‘sustainable pathways’ scenario (SPS) incorporates national climate goals in line with the Paris Agreement. The more ambitious ‘health in all climate policies’ scenario (HPS) includes explicit health objectives. SPS assumes that 50% of the population would be flexitarian (increased consumption of fruits, vegetables and legumes and a decrease in red meat and processed food) and 50% vegan.
“Improving the health outcomes of diets requires that policy makers go far beyond food to addressing the cultural, economic, and behavioural factors that influence diets. The challenge of food quality and availability for different populations, along with the complex nature of food systems, presents a major barrier to improving diet.”
This study makes explicitly clear the health and economic benefits from cleaner air, healthier diets, and more active communities. “The distinct advantage to aligning climate policies with health objectives is the greater political and societal buy-in for actions that have been seen purely in environmental terms thus far.”
the dark side of chicken meat
Americans now eat far more chickens and far fewer cows per capita. It’s good news for the environment, as chicken farming emits fewer GHGs than intensive beef farming, and also human health — chickens contain less fat and cholesterol.
However, it’s an animal welfare disaster condemning millions more individuals to short, miserable lives. Chickens are the main source of protein in the US partly due to low prices made possible by breeding birds to grow bigger and faster. But, this greatly increases their suffering.
Photo: A broiler chicken unable to stand. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
Good news
Dr. Jane Goodall with Roots & Shoots students. Photo: Jane Goodall Institute by Mary Paris.
In 1991, Dr. Jane Goodall launched a youth movement (Roots & Shoots), to inspire thousands of change-makers to transform the world. What began with a group of 12 Tanzanians has become a global movement active in 60 countries. It now represents hundreds of thousands of young people taking action to lead change.
Tackling issues such as unsustainable palm oil, the climate crisis and social injustice, change-makers in Roots & Shoots have created thousands of projects to deliver on a vision of a better world for all. You can find a chapter near you (or start your own). Thank you, Dr. Goodall, and congratulations to Roots & Shoots on its thirtieth anniversary!
Long a staple in many Asian diets, seaweed may be poised to become more prevalent in many western diets. It’s a versatile, highly-sustainable alternative protein and according to one estimate, seaweed farms occupying an area the size of Massachusetts would supply enough protein to replace all the protein provided by beef consumed globally.
One seaweed start-up Trophic, focuses on red seaweed – a protein powerhouse, containing up to 45% protein — as an ingredient rather than a food. An ingredient that can make plant-based meat look, cook, and taste more like conventional meat. Seaweed thrives in harsh environments, doesn’t need fertilizer or fresh water (it can turn nitrogen into protein without either), and grows so quickly it can absorb carbon much faster than a forest.
The recent news that Singapore had approved lab-grown chicken meat for sale in a restaurant generated some controversy and a lot of confusion. What exactly is it? It’s real meat grown from animal cells in a bioreactor — not to be confused with plant-based meats. It’s also called “cultured” or “cultivated” meat. See this excellent short video by Fareed Zakaria of CNN that explains how it’s made, why it’s important and its numerous climate, environmental, health and food safety benefits.
data points
Soy bean plantation in Brazil. Photo: Tiago Fioreze, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
77% of global soy production, and 96% of soy grown in South America, is used for animal feed. Only 4.6% of soy is used for soy milk and tofu, according to Our World In Data at Oxford University. See our blog for more info on soy production and the real culprit behind deforestation.
Five food trends to watch in 2021. For more trends check out The Good Food Institute.
Cultivated (cell-based) meat starting to appear on international restaurant menus.
Plant-based meat diversifying beyond burgers to include chicken products, turkey, bacon, and seafood (shelf-stable and frozen).
A closer resemblance between the taste of plant-based dairy and conventional products such as cheese and ice cream.
More protein sources emerging for plant-based foods e.g., sunflower, mung bean, potato, rice, duckweed, chickpea, navy bean, oat and fungi.
New distribution paradigms emerging as the lines between retail, foodservice, and e-commerce blur leading to a rise in groceraunts, café kiosks, meal kits, grab-and-go products, ghost kitchens, app-enabled delivery, last-mile grocery fulfillment, and autonomous delivery.
Over one trillion insects are farmed each year. An excellent source of protein, they are consumed largely in Asia but the EU recently approved certain species of insects for human consumption.
charting our path
Raising Cattle is the Number One Cause of Deforestation
Just seven commodities were responsible for destroying more than one-quarter of the global tree cover between 2001 and 2015 according to a new analysis from the World Resources Institute. This is equivalent to an area twice the size of Germany. But, the biggest culprit by far was clearing land for cattle which destroyed more forest than the other six commodities combined — a whopping 45.1 million hectares, an area equivalent to twice the size of Sweden. Cattle alone are responsible for 16% of total tree cover loss. Oil palm is a distant second, replacing 10.5 million hectares, while soy accounted for 7.9 million hectares. It’s worth noting, 77 percent of global soy is grown to feed livestock — mainly chickens and pigs.