in this technology driven age of the 21st century
it's all about enabling global consumerism including the food industry
here are 10 ways technology is revolutionizing plant-based food
number one tech companies invest tech companies and entrepreneurs are putting
their money where your mouth goes these moguls dominate today's economy so
it's only fair they give back and invest in our global community
2020 is showing us the urgency for such measures
many entrepreneurs and major corporations are specifically throwing
their money behind vegan meat a report by the good food institute
shows that nearly one billion dollars was invested in
alternative meat in the first quarter of 2020. billionaire microsoft co-founder
and philanthropist bill gates has gotten on the bandwagon by investing
in beyond meat and impossible foods you know the quality is
going to keep getting better the the plant-based guys are not done
innovating eventually they claim you won't be able
to tell the difference he then called up his buddies jeff bezos
amazon founder and owner of the washington post
and richard branson founder of the virgin group said they could go
splitsies on a 90 million investment for the startup motif food
works a branch of the tech firm ginkgo bioworks
number two manufacturing of veggie meat veggie burgers have been on the shelves
since before many of you were born but now there's a real push to create
plant-based meat products that replicate their animal-based counterparts
so traditional meat companies are increasingly developing their own
plant-based products to meet pun intended their own sustainability
goals and because hello money talks the global kovid 19
pandemic has further highlighted concerns with the current meat industry
with the spread of disease in wet markets and meat packing plants
perdue tyson hormel nestle and smithfield
have all stocked our popular supermarket shelves with a variety of meat
alternatives from meatballs to sausages a bonus by
making these products mainstream costs are going down number three
plant milk science in the u.s plant milk sales grew by 61
between 2012 and 2018. oat milk sales surged
250 percent in canada in 2019. there are similar trends in europe and
across the globe reducing the consumption of dairy milk and need for
dairy farmers while increasing the demand for plant
milks refarmed is one of the organizations aiding former dairy
farmers to manufacture and deliver vegan oat milks
by offering support equipment and training so how are these plant milks
made the tech industry has made for easy
production of these milks they can be harvested by using a variety
of grains nuts and seeds they are then turned into beverage form
where additives like vitamins minerals and sugars may be added
pasteurization is also a part of this step what's great about this process
it leaves a much smaller carbon footprint than dairy milk
and minimal water is used especially with oat and soy
milks number four virtual reality when people can walk a mile in a calf's
hoof they can empathize with farm animals and start to make conscious
changes in their diet virtual reality is providing such an
experience a project called icaf an offshoot of peta's nationwide tour of
eye animal is giving consumers a glimpse of various
cow narratives by utilizing film footage and computer animation
it was heartbreaking honestly we never really look at
an animal's perspective they have lives too so seeing it from that perspective
really gave me something to think about
number five vegan protein labs nearly half of most popular food brands
have plant-based departments as a means to combat climate change and population
growth and beyond meat and impossible burger
have revolutionized the way we consume protein
ethan brown created beyond meat where they're using science to extract protein
from plants and the result is a killer delicious
burger that's almost identical to real meat what we think about is
really the composition of meat it's these amino acids lipids it's trace
minerals trace amount of vitamins and it's
predominantly water a lot of cuts from either 67 water as you know as a chef
so why don't we think about building meat differently in an episode of rory
choi's broken bread he visits beyond meat's test kitchen and
based on his reaction he doesn't appear to have any beef with
their juicy sizzling burgers i feel like i eat one of these i go on
american ninja warrior the burger uses 99
less water 99 less water less water than another patty that would be all meat
you're factoring in all the stuff that it takes to make that burger
similar processes are also happening with egg and cheese products
tasting feels like real egg definitely i eat eggs every day
i didn't even notice number six artificial intelligence
when ruminating about artificial intelligence flashes of joaquin phoenix
haley joel osmond will smith and distrustful robots probably come to mind
the reality ai is improving the plant-based food industry
the company brightseed uses its technology to catalog and identify
unused nutrient sources in plants but at bright seed we know
one way to find better answers faster is advanced computation
and that's why we built forager the other component is we teach
forager decades worth of high level biomedical research to take that
information on plants and map it to the world of human biological
systems and make those connections that we can't see
dano north america is looking to use bright sea's invention
to improve its vegan dairy products ai is also used in farming to reduce
negative environmental impacts in the following ways weather
forecasting so farmers can increase yields and profits without risking crops
monitoring soil and crop health for deficiencies decreasing and eliminating
the need for pesticides and by utilizing agricultural bots to
combat labor challenges and to protect their crops from weeds
number seven the manufacturing of mushrooms
mushrooms specifically mycelium are magical in all sorts of ways because
they are versatile and can be used as packaging protein and
vitamins ikea uses mycocomposite a packaging
material that can grow in a week and decompose
in 30 days instead of styrofoam the product is made by new york-based
company ecovative in a world that produces more and more
waste by the day there is an environmental and economic need
for a realistic solution by using a system that is based on nature
ecovative's mushroom materials can compete on cost with petroleum-based
products chefs derrick and chad sarno are working
with the uk supermarket tesco to convert animal agriculture facilities
into mushroom grow houses one of my favorite things that i'm so
obsessed with and you guessed it it's mushrooms
they chose mushrooms because of their taste texture low water needs
and easy conversion into meat products tons of flavor in these
and it's a great meat substitute instead of reaching for that other plant-based
protein go for some mushrooms portabellas super
easy to find one of my favorites hope you enjoy it
number eight alternative farming methods from
substantial population growth to food deserts
the world is in need of sustenance that's not taxing the system
there are many methods of hydroponic farming but the gist is that no soil is
used when growing plants and produce the national park service reported that
hydroponics can use up to 10 percent less water
than field crop watering vertical farming is another modality that is
handy in cities and arid climates it involves the growing of vegetables in
stacked layers in a controlled environment
requiring a lot less land in abu dhabi where water is scarce and temperatures
high the government is investing a hundred
million towards indoor farming an open field or conventional farm your
water is used once and then that's it's gone you
cannot trace it back or reuse it over here we use
90 percent less water because you've given the plants the exact
perfect environment so they take whatever they need from the water and
the nutrients and then we return it and we reuse it
all so that's a big advantage of using vertical farming or indoor farming
number nine vegan food apps technology is revolutionizing how easy it is to
live a plant-based lifestyle providing access to foods and resources
that weren't available not long ago need some vegetation to get you through
the day and keep you from reaching for that beef burger
then check out veggie moji need a vegan pot pie recipe that will
fool your persnickety on betty then use forks over knives
need a killer vegan restaurant recommendation for your cousin's
birthday in a foreign city then click open happy cow so go ahead
and click on those apps just make sure when you're done to put
those phones down and enjoy the company you are with
over a great meal number 10 mobile smart kitchens want to eliminate
waste and carbon emissions while shortening delivery times when ordering
food of course you do we know traditional
agriculture accounts for a significant portion of greenhouse emissions
but transportation is responsible for 14 percent of carbon emissions
inter mobile smart kitchens and companies like Zume
Zume wants farm to table access for everyone on a large scale
how by providing hardware software and packaging solutions for brands and
restaurants their forward mobile kitchens come
pre-built with smart appliances and proprietary ai designed to help
restaurants optimize their operations giving customers an opportunity to even
order a pie for delivery from one of the mobile kitchens
we can see all of the information about a customer's order
and order history when they place it it also requires less startup capital for
smaller establishments and reduces food quality deterioration
so what do you think which tech innovation are you most excited about
let us know in the comments below until next time
live kindly