The future of food is nearer than what many expect. In alternative proteins, cellular agriculture products have just been authorised in the US. At the same time, Solar Foods’ ice cream is now sold in Singapore (electricity is used to convert carbon dioxide into a new source of protein). While alternative proteins get most of the attention, things have been moving fast in another area: genetically-edited foods.
First, let’s rewind a bit to have some context
There is considerable confusion between genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetic editing (notably through the CRISPR methodology). Both techniques aim at modifying an organism’s genome to better its traits for health, environmental or economic reasons.
The main difference is that CRISPR is about editing an organism’s DNA (by deleting or altering) certain parts with its own genome. On the contrary, GMOs are organisms modified with other organisms’ genes (for example, in molecular farming, such as in this example of pork proteins being produced by soybeans). And GMO techniques are considered to be less precise and can lead to unintended genetic changes. Finally, GMOs are negatively viewed or simply banned in many areas of the world.
Genetically-edited foods are now available in the US and maybe soon in Europe
In the past week, things have moved forward on both continents:
- Pairwise, a US-based startup, has launched the first salad made of CRISPR-edited mustard greens that have been genetically edited to remove bitterness.
- A draft document from the EU shows that regulation on such products could be relaxed for faster approval. While opposition is expected, climate change and food security are underlined as key arguments.
Beyond taste enhancements, genetically-edited plants have a huge potential to deliver improvements in areas such as:
- Heath: beyond making healthy food tastier, we have recently seen interesting research in CRISPR-edited tomatoes enriched in Vitamin Dor with a high-blood pressure compound. Beyond those, the number of recently-released research papers on the potential of health benefits linked to genetically-edited crops is quite impressive.
- Reducing emissions: for example, one project intends to modify cow guts to cut methane emissions.
- Climate change mitigation by editing plants to lower their water requirement or their ability to endure heat waves.
I know some consumers would rather look into the past than in these new technologies to find solutions. However, that’s rarely how things are done, notably as we are now 9 billion on this planet and as we need to reduce our impact on climate while adapting to the inevitable changes.
As you can see, we are just at the dawn of a major shift. The implications of genetic editing are much lower than for GMOs. This makes this set of techniques much more acceptable to both regulators and consumers.
