Solein: Synthetic, Protein-Heavy Product, Tastes Like Wheat Flour, Made from Electricity, Water and Air
June 29th, 2019Safety?
I can’t find anything related to safety.
Also, even if there were claims about it being safe to consume, should we believe them?
See: Vaccines, aspartame, GM food, fluoride, etc.
“The foodstuff was said to mark a break with a thousand years of production…”
Alright. How much time and effort will be spent studying the safety of the product?
Mmm hmm.
Via: Guardian:
A Finnish company that makes food from electricity, water and air has said it plans to have 50m meals’ worth of its product sold in supermarkets within two years.
Solar Foods is also working with the European Space Agency to supply astronauts on a mission to Mars after devising a method it says creates a protein-heavy product that looks and tastes like wheat flour at a cost of €5 (£4.50) per kilo.
The Helsinki-based company, assisted by research from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Lappeenranta University of Technology, will apply to the EU for a novel food licence later this year before starting commercial production in 2021.
The powder known as Solein can be given texture through 3D printing, or added to dishes and food products as an ingredient.
It is produced through a process similar to brewing beer. Living microbes are put in liquid and fed with carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles, which have been released from water through the application of electricity. The microbes create protein, which is then dried to make the powder.
Dr Pasi Vainikka, the chief executive of the tech startup, said the company had produced a carbon-neutral way to produce a fully natural protein source without wasting land or water. Pre-engineering on a full-scale factory had just started, he added.
“It is a completely new kind of food, a new kind of protein, different to all the food on the market today in how it is produced as it does not need agriculture or aquaculture,” he said.
The foodstuff was said to mark a break with a thousand years of production. “If we go back in time in the gatherer societies we have just been using more of the same, plants and animals,” he said.
I can’t find out whether it’s a complete protein.
Sounds like manna from heaven, but I can’t remember the interpretative reference.