Recently, ORF Genetics, the world's top plant biotechnology company, and researchers from Iceland, are using genetically modified technology to cultivate more than 100,000 kinds of biogenetically engineered barley in a 22,000 square foot greenhouse for the production of artificia

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Text丨Academic headlines, author丨Zhu Hengheng, editor丨Wang Xinkai

The report also pointed out that the number of people facing hunger in the world increased significantly in 2020, with 130 million new hungry people added. A total of 25 countries around the world are at risk of serious hunger, and nearly 700 million people are in a state of hunger. We are facing the worst food crisis in at least 50 years.

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From the above data, we can see that one in is facing hunger. And in the future, as the earth's population further increases, how should we support so many people?

Artificial meat may be a feasible solution, after all, global livestock farming consumes a lot of arable land and resources. Recently, ORF Genetics, the world's top plant biotechnology company, combined with researchers from Iceland , is using genetically modified technology to cultivate more than 100,000 kinds of biogenetically engineered barley in a 22,000 square foot greenhouse to produce artificial cell culture meat.

In this regard, Arna Runarsdottir, head of protein technology at ORF genetics, said, "The population is increasing, we have to feed everyone."

Traditional livestock breeding brings huge waste of resources

In June 2014, the documentary "Cow Conspiracy: The Secret I Can Never Tell" shot by American director Jeep Anderson premiered in Los Angeles, which deeply explored the impact of animal husbandry on the ecological environment and its connection with desertification, pollution and other environmental issues. It also allows more people around the world to understand the truth about traditional animal husbandry. Data from

shows that 51% of the world's greenhouse gas comes from livestock and their by-products, and 13% comes from transportation. The nitric oxide discharged by livestock is 65% of the global total, and nitric oxide is 296 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in causing the greenhouse effect. The meat and milk industry use 1/3 of the fresh water sources on the earth, of which 55% of the water resources used in the United States are livestock industry, and only 5% are used by households.

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At the same time, 1/3 of the world's land is desertified due to livestock industry, and domestic animals account for 45% of the earth's land resources. The land area required by carnivores is 18 times that of vegans, and 1.5 acres of land = 170 kg of meat = 16783 kg of plant food. In other words, if all meat eaters are turned into vegetarians, the earth can feed 18 times more people.

In addition, 1-2 acres of tropical rainforests are cut down every second on the earth. Animal Husbandry caused 90% damage to Amazon rainforest . Every day, 110 species of insects and animals disappear due to rainforest deforestation, and livestock industry is the main cause of species extinction, marine pollution, water pollution and destruction of animal habitat.

Obviously, in order to solve the global food crisis and save more people from hunger, it is imperative to transform traditional meat and animal husbandry.

Plant Meat or Cell Culture Meat?

If you want to replace traditional animal husbandry, you have to mention artificial meat. There are currently two types of artificial meat in , plant meat and cell culture meat. The former is made of plant protein , while the latter does not need to kill animals, but cultivates animal artificial meat in biological containers through animal cells. Since its inception, the concept of artificial meat has attracted much attention from technology and industry. However, in the early stages, since cell cultured meat was still in the R&D stage, plant meat attracted more attention and attracted a lot of investment.

For example, in May 2019, Beyond Meat, a company known for its vegetarian burgers in the United States, was listed on Nasdaq , becoming the "first stock of artificial meat". Bill Gates and Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in the United States, were both investors in Beyond Meat.

"2021 China Plant Meat Industry Insight White Paper" points out that the hormones and other substances contained in ordinary meat will cause a significant increase in the risk of cancer, heart disease and other diseases. The white paper also points out that for every kilogram of plant meat production, every kilogram of plant meat produced can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 93% land waste and 99% production water.

Environmental and healthy, and is also a well-known advantage of plant meat. However, due to the high production and transportation costs, the price of plant meat is often expensive, which also leads to the fact that "fake meat" represented by plant meat is sold more expensive than real meat.

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Take the "plant protein burger meat patties" sold in the domestic market as an example. The price of 226 g is 59.9 yuan, while the same weight of beef patties only costs 20 yuan per serving. Similarly, the products launched by Starbucks , which uses "plant beef beef" as the raw material, classic lasagna , are priced at 69 yuan per serving.

Obviously, the high price is destined to be a niche applicable group.

. As the name suggests, the meat is obtained by using animal stem cells in vitro culture to obtain meat. In 2013, Mark Post, a professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, spent three months in the laboratory of 20,000 tiny muscle fibers using beef stem cells, making a meat patty weighing 85 g, which is also the world-recognized first artificial cell culture meat.

also faced expensive problems when artificial cell cultured meat was first born. For example, the first 85 g artificial meat patty of cost as much as US$300,000. However, with the development of technology in recent years, the price of artificial cell culture has dropped exponentially. At present, the lowest production cost in the industry, Future Meat, Israeli company, has reduced the price of cell culture chicken to US$3.45 per 100 grams.

Therefore, many experts believe that compared with plant meat, the price of artificial cell cultured meat may be the first to be reduced to an acceptable range in the future and be widely used in people's lives.

Genetic barley cultivation artificial meat

For artificial cell culture meat, the cost is still a problem faced by large-scale production and large-scale promotion. Previously, the culture medium required for artificial cell culture meat production was mainly composed of basal culture medium, fetal bovine serum and growth factor , which was expensive and limited its widespread promotion.

Take growth factors as an example, which plays a crucial role in stimulating the growth of tissues, muscles, fats and stem cells. Without these substances, it is impossible to produce artificial cell cultured meat. Currently, most of the growth factors used by laboratory-cultivated meat producers are derived from animals and are expensive.

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The ORF Genetics mentioned above has its unique technology in that can use barley as the vector for recombinant protein production , providing a more effective and safer method than other protein expression systems. This technology enables ORF Genetics to develop a range of growth factors, including human-like growth factors used in the stem cell research market, and cell culture meat market production of animal-like growth factors.

chose barley because barley has a closed biological system, and its pollen will not pollute other plants - even the surrounding plants. Due to this closed system, no plant can spread its genes to other plants. This is why ORF Genetics can grow over 100,000 GM varieties in a greenhouse without having to worry about cross-contamination.

In this regard, Liv Bergþorsdottir, CEO of ORF Genetics, said that "With the initial results of the transformation of genetically modified barley, the cost of growth factors in artificial cells cultured meat can be greatly reduced in the future and the human food crisis can be solved."

Reference:

https://www.orfgenetics.com/about-orf

https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-genetically-modify-plants-grow-meat-protein