March 31 2025 - Novel New Food

 

Every year the CNE has its strange foods that attract attention - rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches, pickle ice cream, and so on.  But RethinkX - the future think tank organization - doesn't mean weird and strange food when they use the term "novel foods." They are talking about PF and CA.  PF is precision fermentation - the claim is that it will make protein production five times cheaper than existing animal proteins by 2030, and 20 times cheaper by 2035.  CA is cellular agriculture and it will create food-as-software.  Can you imagine the ReThinkx prediction?  That by 2030 these modern food products - like "milk" will be higher quality and cost less than half as much to produce as the animal-derived products they replace?  That is five years away. On one hand, plant-based milks are a normal feature in grocery stores. But plant-based milks are only around 10% of total milk sales (that was in 2022.)  That seems to me a long way to go in such a short time.   There are news stories that reinforce the plant-based movement.  Maybe there are a lot more we don't know of:   "A Canadian dairy producer has reopened a former milk processing plant as a plant-based milk facility. Lactalis Canada will now use the site to produce unsweetened, high protein oat, almond, and hazelnut milks under its new brand, named “Enjoy!”. Lactalis shut down the Ontario plant in 2022 after six decades of processing milk there. At the time the company cited the “decreased profitability and economic sustainability” of producing milk in the facility. Dairy products remain the core business of Lactalis, which is the world’s biggest dairy company. But Nathalie Cusson, General Manager of Lactalis Canada’s Fluid Division, said in a statement that “Enjoy! responds to a growing consumer demand for plant-based options that taste great and have positive health impacts.” There are so many pressures today. Our eyes are on the tariff wars.  Could it be that Science leaps over politics when it comes to dairy farming in Canada.   The supply management system was designed to protect farmers and produce a stable and predictable prices for dairy, poultry and eggs. It has been under criticism from the U.S. and now the tariff wars have added more. I wonder how things will play out.  We might be watching the tariff wars only to realize that is  PF and CA developments that replace dairy cows.   I can buy a 3d cake printer on Alibaba.com now.  How much would that price have to come down to make it worthwhile.  It is priced at $1,299.  And are there any eggs in a 3d printed cake? Here's one answer from Smithsonian Magazine: "Their printer-friendly recipe requires seven ingredients—graham cracker paste, peanut butter, strawberry jam, Nutella, banana puree, cherry drizzle and frosting. The technology built the slice by squeezing each element out of a syringe in thin lines, forming the layered dessert."

This is the house at the end of Elizabeth Street in Grimsby where Forty Creek flows into Lake Ontario.  Isn't this a garden picture from a time  long ago?  It is hard to find quaint fences and garden gates these days.  Not to mention such gorgeous roses.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca