With rapid population growth, humans will not be able to feed themselves on traditional food production methods. Scientists are working hard to develop new methods and new varieties to meet future survival needs. For example, in vitro hamburger, who wants to try it?
"Concept" does not come true
The Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has recently launched a "future feast": a piece of test tube steak, "woven" with beef fiber "English" (meat); pre-dinner snacks made of "fruit meat"; The red and green striped sushi comes from the genetically modified "vegetable fish"; it can be freely modulated with microwave pulses, a glass of Montenegrin, or a glass of Spanish Syrah; and there is a sweet fried clam, a program of Coke for children, and
"Magic Meatball" --- raw materials are artificial meat produced by stem cells, rich in vitamins, chewing it crunchy.
However, these foods can not be imported, they are just the "conceptual food" launched by Eindhoven University of Technology. Among them, “magic meatballs†are kneaded with plasticine and beef is knitted with pink yarn. But these "concepts" are not absurd. Keltin van Menswalt, an assistant professor at the university, said that they are "nearly close to reality."
Van Mengswalt is the behind-the-scenes design of the website “The Future of Natureâ€. The site is popular with “techno-mad men†and brings together a group of industrial design graduates, biotechnology engineers, marketing experts and philosophers, trying to present to people. Samples of future foods. From a technical perspective, this dream is only one step away from reality.
For example, artificial steak technology has yet to be studied, but fillings on pizza are not far away from achieving "all man-made." Dr. Mark Post, a renowned scholar in the field of test tube beef, stated that the world’s first artificial burger is about to come out and it is synthesized by cells cultivated in 10 billion laboratories.
Simulation "natural" non-standard
Dr. Post has made a heart valve. Right now, he and other Dutch scientists are working on a difficult problem: how to make "flesh" from colloidal broken into a form that people can accept, that is, the traditional muscle form. They consider using electric shocks.
What is the key to developing future food? Now the practice of scientists seems to want to prove: The key is not what kind of food scientists can make, but what kind of food we can accept. Some scientists believe that trying to “copy†meat that humans are familiar with is a mediocre and futile act that proves human ignorance of food.
"Thinking that 'natural is good' is an oversimplification of this idea. It stays in the past of people's delusions, and stays in an era when food is still 'real existence.'" UN adviser, a Dutch scholar who has been responsible for international food innovation research projects. Louise Fresk said.
Van Munswalt also believes that copying known foods is a kind of "delayed" behavior. He said: "This is not innovation. 'Natural' is the biggest marketing trick and it is by far the most successful deception."
Public resistance is an obstacle
The biggest obstacle to high-tech food research and development may not be technology, but the consumer's "refusal" mentality. Because consumers are highly vigilant about "artificial foods," food manufacturers are extremely cautious about GM food research. Even if they are involved, they try to keep a low profile. The funding of these companies is the key to the advancement of relevant research.
Compared with the United States, European countries are more cautious about the development of genetically modified foods. The Dutch love pork more than other European countries, but their food company does not publicly fund the Eindhoven University of Technology project or any other research project on artificial meat. Van Munswalter’s “Future Food†program comes from the government.
For the "nervous tension" of the food industry, Van Munswalt is quite disdain. He said that once the industry saw the word “pharmaceutical sushiâ€, it quickly stated: “Don't put our name and that word together.†Once, at a seminar on food and nanotechnology science, The executive officer of Europe's largest food company asked Von Munswalt to not announce to the outside world that he had attended the meeting.
The public’s fear of genetically modified foods originated from the failure experience of American biotechnology giant Monsanto. Freske said that GMO research began with pesticides. This is a "historic mistake." Because Monsanto's promotion of genetically modified insecticides in the United States and India was inadvertent, the public has become disgusted with genetically modified products, and then the Loss of trust in technology not only prevents rich people from enjoying new food varieties, but also affects poor people's food and clothing. For example, hundreds of millions of Africans eat cassava as a staple food, but it is difficult to solve the problem of cassava's provocation of worms because of the sudden brakes in genetic research. In another example, transgenic rice can increase production by 40%.
Freske acknowledged that there is a real risk in GM technology, but scientists have been able to control it better than ever before.
Dutch scientists are still struggling to avoid using the word "GM", but many European scientists believe that the development of GMO technology is an irresistible trend, and Europe must keep pace, or it will lag behind the world.
No choice?
Regardless of the current public’s mentality regarding “artificial foodâ€, scientists have warned that various factors will lead to the unsustainable supply of traditional food and insist that “all natural food†is likely to go hungry.
Colfan van der Weil, a professor of humanities at Wageningen University, believes that moral factors will eventually lead the public to accept new technologies and at least receive artificial meat.
In Weiler's words: “People will see the moral advantage of artificially cultivated meat. The idea of ​​extracting stem cells from a pig instead of slaughtering tens of thousands of pigs at the slaughterhouse has been an idea that is increasing consumption. Accepted."
"Environmental protection" is another driving factor. Weller said that in the desert area, people use solar "bioreactors" to generate meat, which can significantly reduce energy consumption. “It requires 1% and 2% of the land and water consumption for the traditional culture method, and the greenhouse gas release can be reduced by 90%.â€
Climate change, population growth and the end of Yangon's transportation of fossil fuels and fertilizers will drastically change the food supply in the next 25 years.
The most important three major food crops in the world, rice, wheat, and corn, are mostly grown in countries where temperatures are most likely to rise. This prospect is worrying. The crisis will start with corn and the temperature will exceed 30 degrees Celsius and it will not grow.
Experts say that food prices will no longer be as cheap as in 2000, but only one increase in population will be enough to increase future food prices. According to a recent study by Harvard professor David Bloom, the global population will increase to 9 billion by 2050. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts that by then we will have to produce 40% more food without starvation, and traditional food production methods simply cannot solve this problem.
Tim Long, a professor of food policy at City University London, reminded the British government that the traditional food culture of Yangshao Oil has ended and that food policies that seek biodiversity are imperative.
In the future, when some unnatural foods are unheard of, perhaps we have no choice. (Don Juan)
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