Category: Alternative food

Not a drop in the ocean, households’ potential to reduce carbon emissions

Travelling by public transport, recycling our home waste, using re-fillable water bottles or taking a tote bag to the supermarket. We have all heard about the little changes we can do to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment. However, the action with the biggest impact is related to food!

Project Drawdown has identified a series of practices and technologies with direct effect on emissions that are scientifically validated and economically viable.

A drop in the ocean?

Their analysis revealed that household activities could contribute to avoid dangerous climate change, defined as an increase in global temperature larger than 1.5°C. Individual actions have the potential to reduce the total emissions needed to avoid that temperature increase by 25-30%. Definitely not just a drop in the ocean! While large businesses and governments are responsible for most emissions (70-75%), our choices also play an important part.

How can we help?

Among the 20-high impact actions we find better home insulation, public transport and recycling. But above all, adopting a plant-rich diet and reducing food waste make up 12.4% of the 25-30% household potential for reductions. Adapting our diet and reducing the food we buy but don’t eat could really make a difference.

Top 20 high impact climate actions for households and individuals.
Top 20 high impact climate actions for households and individuals. Image credit: Project Drawdown.

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The rise of cultivated meat II: beyond cell culture

In our previous blog (Future of Food: Exploring the Rise of Cultivated Meat), guest bloggers, Wynsee Lu and Mekumi Chan, told us about the potential of cultivated meat as a sustainable food option. As they read articles on the topic, they discovered this industry goes beyond standard cell culture. In fact, there are a lot of additional aspects to consider for cultivated meat. Lab-grown meat is a great example of how we need to have molecular understanding to effectively engineer new products. In this blog, they explore the diversity in this industry and its potential for growth.

The molecular origin of flavour

For consumers, the most important sensory characteristics of cultivated meats are the taste and texture compared to real meat. The main way industries have attempted to achieve the natural taste of meat within this sustainable food option is by mimicking the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is the natural process that normal meats undergo when browning under heat to bring out aromas and flavours. Simultaneous chemical reactions between the amino acids and reducing sugars in the meat achieve the desired outcome. To mimic this, researchers use a temperature-sensitive flavour-switchable scaffold to enhance the aromatic properties of cultivated meats. This scaffold “switches on’ while cooking and the chemical reactions within it release crucial flavours to appease consumers. This is not the only way to reproduce the flavours of real meat and industries are developing new methods every day.

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Future of Food: Exploring the Rise of Cultivated Meat

Over the summer, IMSE welcomes undergraduate students to spend a day working side to side with our Operations team. They help us explore new topics in the field of molecular science and engineering and design outreach activities. In August, Wynsee Lau (Medical Biosciences undergraduate) and Mekumi Chan (Biological Sciences undergraduate) combined their interest in scientific research and public engagement to write a blog. They chose to write about the exciting potential of the cultivated meat field and situated it in the context of a well known event, the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Aiming for a gold medal in sustainability at the Olympics games

As we enjoy the last month of summer, the most memorable event of this season has to be the Paris Olympics. Whether it was memorable because of the unique opening ceremony, I’m sure we’ve all seen some TikTok of the Olympic village and Paris’ attempt for a more ‘sustainable’ games. One of Paris’ approaches was to half the amount of animal products compared to any other Olympics. Instead of meat, they introduce more plant-based foods.  This decision led to a decrease in carbon emissions; however, there were also complaints from some of the athletes.  What can future Olympic hosts do to cut down these alarming carbon emissions whilst also fueling the athletes with the appropriate nutrients needed? In the growing industry of biotechnology, many startups are investigating the possibility of growing meat in the lab. 

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