The past few years have proven how susceptible Canada’s food industry is to world events, supply chain disruptions and climate changes. New food production technology, such as cellular agriculture, has the potential to alleviate some of these challenges, while creating commercial opportunities and building a more sustainable, resilient food system.
What is it?
Cellular food – also known as engineering biology, synthetic biology or cell-cultivated products – is the production of food and textile products without using animals or land. Cell cultures harvested from animals, plants or micro-organisms are grown in the lab through tissue engineering or precision fermentation to produce:
- Cultivated proteins such as chicken, beef and seafood
- Fermented products like dairy, eggs, honey and chocolate
- Ingredients to add to products to create hybrid foods including proteins, enzymes, flavour molecules, vitamins, pigments and fats
- Textiles such as leather, silk and wool
Why you should care
As global population continues to grow, so does demand for protein, while access to land and other resource inputs become more scarce. Alternative agriculture could be an answer to food scarcity, concerns about animal and environmental welfare, cost inflation and resource challenges due to climate change. Compared to conventional agriculture, cellular agriculture production, is much less energy intensive, produces less greenhouse gas emissions, and has a much lower overall carbon footprint.
With our strong food infrastructure, reputation for food safety, biotechnical expertise, and federal support for alternative protein production, Canada is well positioned to become a leader in cellular agriculture. The 2021 report Cellular Agriculture: Canada’s $12.5 Billion Opportunity in Food Innovation from Ontario Genomics and the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley found that the international cellular agriculture market will reach US$100 billion by 2032. Canada’s food industry has the potential to take $12.5 billion that market, while creating up to 142,000 high-paying jobs.
Opportunities in Canada
Engineered plant proteins are already in the Canadian market, and by all estimates, precision fermented products are expected to appear before cultured meat products. Current Canadian regulations consider food produced through cellular agriculture as a novel food, and products are approved on a case-by-case basis.
Here are a few Canadian start-ups making headlines:
Because Animals – This Toronto-based pet food company uses cultured ingredients such as probiotics and nutritional yeast to create nutrient-rich cat and dog food designed to help digestive issues.
Future Fields – Edmonton, AB-based Future Fields is a R&D producing growth media products that can be used to create commercialized cultivated proteins in a safe and sustainable manner.
Cell-Ag Tech – Toronto’s Cell-Ag Tech is doing R&D on cell-cultured fish and seafood.
New Harvest
International non-profit research institute New Harvest, which promotes the science behind cultured meat through research, funding and a conference, now has a Canadian branch.
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