This article is from the public number: fruit shell (ID: Guokr42) , author: Mo Xuan, from title figure: vision China
In September this year, The first domestic artificial meat food was launched in Hangzhou , it is reported that the product is White is made from raw materials, with almost no difference in taste and real meat. On November 18, China’s first artificial cultured meat produced by muscle cell culture was born at Nanjing Agricultural University. The two news quickly attracted the attention of the public, and the relevant news continued to swipe the screen.
However, the rise of this domestic wave of artificial meat may be attributed more to Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, two large artificial meat manufacturers across the ocean. The former landed on U.S. stocks in September this year and became the first artificial meat company to go public, while the latter has not been listed yet, but its valuation is comparable to the former. Since the listing of Beyond Meat, the stock has surged 600%, and it seems that the market can recognize the artificial meat and related products.
But do n’t eat good real meat. Why eat artificial meat? And what exactly is artificial meat? Can I also eat artificial meat?
If you have real meat, why should you eat artificial meat?
In addition to the lack of humaneness in industrialized farming and slaughter, protecting the environment is also an important reason.
Overview of global per capita annual consumption of meat (in Kg) | slowfood.com
Now global warming and serious industrial pollution, The per capita arable area is visibly reduced , but at the same time, the number of people to feed has increased. Globally, the total meat consumption in the past 50 years has increased from 45 million tons to the current 300 million tons, and by 2050 this number may be 600 million tons.
Behind such a large amount of meat consumption is a large area of feed cultivation. How can there be such a large place to grow it? Therefore, in the future, agriculture and animal husbandry will need a production method that occupies less land, consumes less resources, and has less impact on the environment. Skipping animals and directly producing “artificial meat” is a way to achieve these goals. .
The severe situation of per capita arable area and population growth. By 2030, per capita arable land will be reduced by 70%. In other words, in 1950 one hectare (15 acres) of land had to feed two people, but by 2030 it had to feed six people. | gro-intelligence.com
What is artificial meat?
I’ve figured out why artificial meat is made, and let’s talk about what’s going on with artificial meat.
Artificial meat, as its name suggests, is artificial meat. Although there are many kinds of artificial meat, they are nothing more than a) artificial real meat and b) artificial fake meat. Why is there still real or fake meat? of course!
First say a) artificial meat. Artificial real meat is real meat. It is usually cultured in a laboratory environment with true muscle cells. Using animal muscle cells, through a series of methods, cell clusters, cell cakes or cell masses that grow on the substrate of the culture dish. This kind of meat is generally called “Cultured meat”, and this type of meat was born by Nanjing University of Agriculture.
Since it’s grown from real meat cells, naturally it’s no different from ordinary meat in taste , but the size of this artificial real meat is generally not large, after all, the culture dish So big
Schematic diagram of artificial meat | davos.projourno.org
But in fact, in addition to laboratory culture methods, artificial meat can also be produced by 3D printing. The cells contained in the meat are nothing more than muscle cells and fat cells. As long as the cell culture method is used, a large number of cells are cultured, and then 3D printing technology is used to combine these cells together. After all, 3D printing technology can successfully print a kidney, and a lot of meat is printed, naturally. The meat produced by this method can be large, but the price is still very expensive. After all, it is expensive to raise cells.
3D printed meat schematic diagram | Modern Meadow
More b) artificial fake meat. Artificial fake meat is made from non-meat protein (generally vegetable protein, but also fungal proteins such as mushrooms) , which is produced by simulating the taste and texture of meat, and is truly meat-free meat (meat without meat) . The two major brands Impossible and Beyond that have been launched in the United States are both of this type. China ’s first” artificial “Meat” products also fall into this category.
Given the high production and consumption costs of artificial real meat, at present, artificial fake meat is the mainstream of the market. Now the “artificial meat” that frequently brushes the screen usually refers to artificial fake meat.
What are the artificial meats you can eat now?
We are all familiar with traditional vegetarian dishes that imitate food. They can also be regarded as traditional versions of artificial meat , but the current artificial meat is still very different in technology. Added Some high-tech elements. The Chinese people use tofu to make most of the ingredients. They are made by adding some seasonings or food additives to simulate the taste and taste of meat. The products are almost cooked. Artificial meat, in appearance, strives to be similar to raw real meat, and after cooking, also strives to achieve a taste similar to real meat. For example, this picture of Beyond meat sold in major supermarkets in North America looks no different from ordinary real meat, and the taste after cooking is very similar to real meat.
Beyond artificial meat | Photo by author
It’s not easy to do this. First of all, we need to conduct in-depth and scientific research and analysis on the color, aroma and taste of meat. Secondly, based on the analysis results, find a suitable substitute in the plant. The protein in real meat has a complex three-dimensional protein conformation. At the same time, it can capture fat, water, polysaccharides and small molecules responsible for meat flavor. The muscle fibers in meat also bring “chewing” to meat. Due to the natural differences between plants and animals, these meat characteristics are almost completely absent from plants. Therefore, plant-derived artificial meat products or some other high-protein products naturally cannot satisfy discerning humans.
The innovation of Beyond and Impossible products is that all-round simulation of the nature of real meat can bring people the taste of real meat. Take Beyond Meat, which first landed in the US stocks, as an example. According to its official website information and its patent information, this is a complex mixture of peas and other legume-based proteins, mixed with various ingredients such as coarse rice, sunflower seeds, potatoes, coconut oil, and beet juice. Beyond uses a variety of protein sources such as peas to mimic the protein content of ground beef, and strives to be similar to real meat in microstructure after cooking.
In order to imitate the lingering “meat”, Beyond meat analyzed the chemical composition of flavor molecules in real meat. (mainly docosahexaene Acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, conjugated fatty acids arachidic acid, palmitic acid, glycolipids, membrane lipids, etc.) , mixed with coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, rapeseed oil, etc. to make flavor analogs. Finally, the starch in rice and potatoes was used to replace the carbohydrates in ground beef, coconut meat was used to mimic large fats in ground meat, and beet juice was used to mimic the redness of ground meat.
Some of the main ingredients used in Beyong artificial meat | beyondmeat.com
MostIn the end, Beyond meat was produced through a complex production process. In the interview, the company’s CEO stated that the comprehensive similarity between Beyond meat and ground beef is more than 50% (including appearance, taste and flavor, etc.) .
If Beyond is only from the physical and chemical perspective, the food production process simulates real meat, then Impossible’s innovation over Beyond is that they use bioengineering methods. As mentioned above, The real meat can bring us the taste and taste, in addition to the “flavour” flavor molecules, there are some proteins. The two main types of proteins are hemoglobin (hemoglobin) and myoglobin (myoglobin) . It is these two proteins that give the meat a “flesh color”. The attractive reddish juice of five mature steaks is also due to their presence.
Schematic diagram of the molecular structure of three proteins | memorangapp.com
Impossible researchers The plant homologue of these two proteins was found in soybean nodules-leghemoglobin (leghemoglobin ) . Bean hemoglobin is a complex protein, first discovered by Japanese scientist Hideo Kubo in 1939. Soybean root nodules are due to rhizobium (Bradyrhizobium japonicum) . Soybean provides nutrients to rhizobium through photosynthesis, and rhizobium provides nitrogen that can be absorbed by soybean through nitrogen fixation.
Soybean root nodules (A), nodule transection (B), and rhizobium (C) and nitrogen-fixing cells (D) labeled with green fluorescent protein | micro.biol.ethz.ch
The researchers then conducted in-depth research on leghemoglobin. The results show that both the color and taste of (mainly bloody) are very similar to true hemoglobin and myoglobin.
In this way, the researchers cloned the gene sequence that expresses leghemoglobin and transgenic it into yeast, so that yeast can also express leghemoglobin, and conducted various safety tests. The end result shows that it is one of the best candidates for producing artificial meat. Therefore, based on it, various plant ingredients were added to simulate the taste and appearance of meat, and finally Impossible artificial meat was produced.
In September, the first domestic artificial meat marketed in Hangzhou. Based on the limited information provided by its official website and some news reports, it can be speculated that it uses a technology route similar to Beyond.
↓ Real-person tasting session ↓
In order to verify the taste, I deliberately bought an Impossible artificial meat burger and tasted it. The left side of the picture below is an ordinary beef burger and the right side is Impossible artificial meat burger.
Hamburger photos and tastes | Photo by author / producer
Overall it tastes similar to a real beef burger. The color and details of the meatloaf are very similar, and the flavor is also OK, but there is no beef tendon-like substance in the meat, which can taste a slightly proteinous meat. The price is also acceptable, which is $ 1.2 more expensive than a regular burger.
Someday in the future, when artificial meat really reaches the level of “reality,” choosing healthier artificial meat and realizing freedom of artificial meat may be a good life pursuit. As for how much it can be accepted, it depends on whether the artificial meat they produce can satisfy people’s discerning stomach.
References:
1. Laboratory cell culture meat https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lab-grown-meat/
2. Artificial beef laboratory meat https://culturedbeef.org
3. 3D printed active kidney https://www.healtheuropa.eu/3d-printed-kidney