[VO] Today, we’ll grill three patties.
[VO] The first is a regular, mass-produced burger.
[VO] The second is made from vegetable protein but smells and tastes like meat.
[VO] And the third is made from lab-grown meat,
it arrived by special delivery from Belgorod.
[VO] Our research team is: a family and three dogs.
[VO] Their task to check out the taste of conventional and innovative meat.
FUTURE FOOD: FROM LAB TO FORK
BIOTECH MUSEUM – A MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTRE, MOSCOW
[VO] Innovative, artificial, alternative -
what will the food of the future be?
[VO] What will we eat in 10, 20 or 30 years?
[VO] How will our familiar dishes change?
[Child] Whoa!
[Child] Those cakes look delicious!
[Child] Leaves!
[Woman] Bars made from what, my lovelies?
[Child] Yuk! - It's grasshoppers
[Child] We won't eat those!
[José Cordeiro, Futurist, President, Millennium Project's Venezuela Node] Well, in terms of food, this is already happening.
[Cordeiro] There are many technologies that will change the food industry.
[Cordeiro] For example, 3D printing. This is from science fiction, in fact.
[Cordeiro] We will not grow living animals, just the parts we want to eat.
[Cordeiro] So we’re just copying what nature did.
[Cordeiro] But we are going to do it better because this is by design with no waste.
[Cordeiro] And this is important. We will live in a cleaner planet,
in a more environmentally-friendly planet with artificial food.
In 10 years, the global population increases by one billion.
8.12 BILLION – WORLD POPULATION AS OF SEPTEMBER 2023
[VO] It’s predicted that by 2058, there’ll be 10 billion of us.
[VO] And we all have to eat.
[Oksana Kuznetsova, Head, Gorbatov, Federal Research Centre for Food Systems, Russian Academy of Sciences]
[Oksana] It's a vital balance, how to feed us all and not kill the environment?
[VO] Even now, farming has irrevocably changed the face of our planet.
[VO] Most forests have been cleared for farmland,
much of which is used to grow fodder for livestock.
[VO] To produce one kilogram of beef,
you need more than 38 kilograms of feed and almost 4,000 litres of water
including irrigation for maize and soybeans.
[VO] We know that Cattle are a leading climate change driver and a big source of air pollution.
[VO] One cow 'emits' about 100 kilograms of methane a year.
[VO] A car has to travel 12,500 kilometres a year to equal the climate impact of just one cow.
[VO] That being said, animal rearing contributes just 18% the of calories
and 37% of the protein people eat.
[Oksana] We see how the green issue affects European colleagues:
reduced meat production in Germany,
the livestock cutback in traditional countries like Denmark
[Rimma Moisenko, Dietician]
[Rimma] If they're overpopulated, let them find alternative foods
[Rimma] In any case, we can be observers
[Rimma] In any case, we can conduct our own research,
based on other countries' examples,
and consider what a new, healthy, alternative diet could be
[Alina Osmakova, Deputy Director for Strategic Communications, Federal Biotechnology Research Centre]
[Alina] When we talk about the future of the food industry,
we are talking about big numbers and changing the industry
[Alina] It's about a possible transition to alternative technological bases
[Alina] The most responsible, most rational, most...
systematically-minded traditional food producers around the world today
are already starting to invest
in technological retooling
[VO] In 2012, an American laboratory developed plant-based meat
and now, plant-based patties, chicken strips, and nuggets
are produced by several companies around the world.
[Chef] We try to toy with receptors, for that we use...
a plant-based legume texturate, from pea, rice and soya protein
[Chef] It's an isolate with no taste, colour, or smell, like flour
[Chef] Now, we mix it all with a little water
[Chef] Now, we add fat here, an emulsified oil
[Chef] It's made from rapeseed and coconut oil
[Chef] It looks a lot like animal fat
[Chef] Then we add a complex food additive to mimic different types of meat
[Sergey Ivanon, Executive Director, EFKO Group]
[Sergey] Plant-based meat has huge potential
[Sergey] We just don't know yet where we are in history, and it's still quite expensive
[Chef] We put it on top...
[Chef] And cover it...
[Chef] Voila!
[Sergey] For a plant-based patty, you need costly, quality protein
[Artyom Ponomaryov, Head, Alternative Food Producers Association]
[Artyom] This is where we make the base for plant-based products
[Voice] It's made of...? [Artyom] Peas
[Artyom] This product mimics meat in its dried form
[Artyom] It's stringy too, and has been dyed to imitate beef, it has 65% protein
[Artyom] Then you just throw it into stock,
soak it, and cook it like normal meat: stew it, bake it, roast it, whatever
[VO] Two chefs are making soup from the same ingredients and only the meat is different.
[VO] This is regular.
[VO] And this is plant-based.
[Man] I must take one,
or there'll be none left
[Woman] Pretty cool [Voice] It's delicious!
[Woman] I'm not sure
[Alina] There's heated debate about whether plant-based meat
can be called meat or what is an 'alternative' steak?
[Alina] Can we use the word 'steak' for a product that was never part of a cow?
[Man] Do you know you'll taste plant-based meat? It's natural but plant-based
[Woman] OK, plant-based. Do you use real meat too?
[Man] You didn't like it?
[Man] I don't like it at all
[Artyom] We show the potential of plant-based foods
[Artyom] It's high-quality protein, which, importantly,
we don't all get in time or in the right amount
[Sergey] Almost 1 billion people are starving now, 2 bn are malnourished
[Sergey] It's hard for us to imagine what it's like to have no protein in our diet
FEDERAL NUTRITION AND BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTRE, MOSCOW
[VO] The Federal Nutrition and Biotechnology Research Centre
is the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences’ oldest research facility.
[VO] It conducts scientific studies and assesses food products safety.
[VO] Here, you get a close-up view of what it means to have no protein in your diet.
[Lab tech] These have no protein in their diet at all
[Lab tech] You see how small they are?
[Lab tech] And these have a full, balanced diet
[Lab tech] They're the same age, yes
[VO] The population growth rate is closely correlated
with the rate at which alternative protein is being sought.
[Oksana] We'll struggle to get full protein
[Oksana] Those who can feed the planet with full protein,
on a global scale, will take a dominant position
[Oksana] Whether we want it or not, the technology will develop
[Oksana] We must feed everyone. But who? And with what?
[Nadezhda Tyshko, Medical Sciences PhD, Head, Safety Lab for Biotechnologies and Novel Food Sources, Federal Nutrition and Biotechnology Research Centre]
[Nadezhda] From 2018 to 2022,
we conducted some research on black soldier fly larvae
because a trend has developed in European countries
regarding the use of insects for food
[Nadezhda] So, we decided to develop a system
for assessing the safety of edible insects
INNOFOOD 2023 FORUM SOCHI, RUSSIA
[Man] From what? [Exhibitor] Crickets
[Exhibitor] The flour is made from crickets
[Man] It's edible? [Exhibitor] Of course! Here
[Exhibitor] Not just one, I suggest a handful
[Exhibitor] Give your opinion to your colleague. How and what is it?
[Anton Stokoz, Project Manager, ‘Rosenergy’ Product Line Production]
[Anton] We make cricket flour, it looks like this
in dry form. Flour like this
has 70 grams of protein per 100 grams of product. 70!
[Anton] Chicken has 27, beef has 21 grams of protein
[Anton] Qurabiya. Qurabiya [Woman] No! No way!
[Anton] No? [Woman] I'm conservative
[VO] At innovative food exhibitions in Russia, you can try biscuits made with just cricket flour.
[VO] You can't to buy pastries like it anywhere else.
[VO] But, in Europe, as of January 2023, the use of cricket flour in food production is allowed.
[VO] Now croissants and baguettes made from crickets are on display next to the regular baked goods.
[Girl] Not bad!
[Man] Not bad?
[Man] Who else is brave?
[Man] Here... [Girl] Like crisps...
[Man] Here you go
[Man] I promise you'll change your mind about this product
[Girl] Go on, try it
[Man] Tasty?
[Girl] You'd say, 'Never in my life!'
[Nadezhda] Anyway, we did the research and studied the materials for some time
[Nadezhda] And the overall conclusion was positive
[Nadezhda] It's safe
[Nadezhda] Reproduction and offspring development are not compromised
[Nadezhda] For nutrition, it's quite good and promising
[Nadezhda] As far as toxicology goes, there are no issues
[VO] Can chitin damage human health?
[VO] Some researchers believe that it may have a negative impact on immune cells.
[VO] Others think it’s harmless.
[Rimma] Chitosan, we know, can't really be digested by our bodies
[Rimma] It isn't digested, and its composition contains elements that can lead to:
the formation of amyloids in the hippocampus, in our brains
[Rimma] These eventually lead to dementia and Alzheimer's disease
[Nadezhda] Edible insects contain chitin, and the chitin should be removed
[Nadezhda] It's just that modern technology
allows us to break down certain food products
[Nadezhda] That opens many opportunities that weren't available before
STRAVROPOL REGION, RUSSIA
[Oksana] When it comes to eating insects, well...
[Oksana] I personally think, talking about now and the next 30 years,
it's not a promising field,
because mentally we don't yet see them as food
[Oksana] When will we adopt the new product?
[Oksana] There must be stuff we won't eat
[Nadezhda] It's a misnomer to say, 'replacing'
[Nadezhda] All through its history, humanity has expanded its range of food products
[Nadezhda] This will just be another source of protein
[VO] A completely new type of product — sweet protein.
[Sergey] Two types of domestication helped humanity to survive
[Sergey] First, cereal crops, second, it was animals
[Sergey] Now we see the domestication of microorganisms
'BIRYUCH' INNOVATION CENTRE, BELGOROD REGION, RUSSIA
[VO] Sweet protein is a harmless alternative to sugar.
[VO] It was discovered a few decades ago in exotic African plants
but extracting it in the usual way wasn’t economically viable.
[VO] Until people learned to grow it using bio-tech.
[Rita Rynkevich, Deputy Incorporation Director, ‘Biryuch’ Innovation Centre]
[Rita] We use yeast cells
[Rita] We place the material that we ask the yeast to make inside them
[Rita] And, with the use of our fermenting agent
under specific conditions and parameters,
the yeast starts producing sweet protein
[VO] An average person eats four to six tablespoons of sugar a day,
if they take tea without sugar.
[VO] Sugar is hidden in almost everything we buy in a grocery store.
[Sergey] Worldwide,10 bn tonnes of food are produced in the fields and on farms,
10 billion tonnes
2 bn tonnes of sugarcane and beets are grown
[Sergey] That's 20% of all the volume. It's a huge number
[Sergey] It's hard to comprehend
[Sergey] The cheapest anti-depressant
[VO] In 2020, according to Rosstat research,
every Russian citizen ate almost four times more sugar than the Ministry of Health recommends.
[VO] For years, scientists around the world have worked on minimising the bitter consequences of a sweet tooth.
[VO] So that we can still eat sweets, but without the fat and avoide diabetes.
[Rita] Because of the protein structure, our body sees it as protein, so
no insulin is secreted into the bloodstream
[VO] These sweets aren’t sold in Russia yet.
[VO] The first country to have certified sweet protein is the United Arab Emirates.
[Sergey] There's a real diabetes problem in the Middle East
[Sergey] Officially, it's about 20%, unofficially it may be up to 60%
[Sergey] So, sweet proteins solve two problems at once
[Sergey] They import sugar but could produce sweet protein locally
[Sergey] That's food security and health
[VO] Meat-growing experiments began in the late 2000s,
and in 2013, the first test-tube burger was introduced to the world
and that artificial pattie cost more than $300,000.
[Aleksandr Savkov, CEO, Ochakovsky Food Ingredients Plant]
[Aleksandr] In 2013, Mark Post published a paper
showing that he had grown cultured meat
[Aleksandr] I got interested and began to study it
[Aleksandr] We began to look for biomaterial:
we need a calf 3 or 4 days after calving
[Aleksandr] Growth cells are taken from the hip area
[Aleksandr] We used microsurgery with local anaesthetic
[Aleksandr] Not one calf was harmed in the process
[Aleksandr] I work on producing food ingredients for the meat industry
[Aleksandr] It's logical that meat is one of the main elements of our business
[Aleksandr] I thought that, if we couldn't create cultured meat,
we could at least understand meat better
[Aleksandr] Two and a half years of failure
before the first cultured meat was grown
MOSCOW
[Lab tech] These test tubes contain muscle fibres
[Lab tech] We think it's a breakthrough
[Lab tech] It contains not just mousse, but also fibres and veins
[Lab tech] We managed to create that
[Aleksandr] Our last meat was even...
[Aleksandr] We attached some random muscle tissue cells to it
and grew a small muscle
[VO] We’ve already learned to grow meat cells quite successfully.
[VO] The main problem is reducing costs and scaling the meat production process
or finding the perfect base for cells to attach themselves to
so they can start to grow,
and developing an optimal nutrient fluid formula, what’s called the culture medium.
[Aleksandr] Liquid composition is the secret and the main consumable material
[Aleksandr] If technology starts to develop, then the culture manufacturer
will be the main beneficiary
[Aleksandr] There's a cost reduction, but we don't just reduce costs,
but scale up production. Even in the US, where the FDA allowed
growing meat like this, one company has already supposedly
launched industrial production, but we can't call it industrial production
[Aleksandr] Why are we continuing this project? It's important for us to understand
how this technology is developing and to stay on top of it in Russia,
and so that if any changes or revolutionary developments occur,
we'll be able to implement them fast
[Aleksandr] The need for protein will drive the industry forward
BELGOROD, RUSSIA
[VO] A Belgorod University student claims to grow whole cutlets in the university laboratory.
[Danil Maklakov, Student]
[Danil] The result is something like minced meat
[Voice] How long did it take to grow? [Danil] 21 days
[Danil] We use several types of cells, not just muscle cells:
fat and muscle cells, and connective tissue cells
[Danil] We also had prices starting from $335,
then we reduced the cost to the current price of $21
[Danil] To develop the culture, we switched to much cheaper plant components
[Danil] Then, once I'd got the first $5,500 grant,
we launched production
[Aleksandr] A culture entirely of plant origin has been tried
[Aleksandr] So far, it hasn't been successful
[Aleksandr] Living cells grow poorly in a plant environment. In fact, hardly at all
[VO] If a Belgorod student really has found a unique plant culture formula
that can grow patties in 3 weeks,
then, maybe, we'll soon see huge rewards.
[Danil] So far, most people don't believe in what I'm doing
[Danil] In fact, even my parents and relatives didn't, don't and won't believe in it
[Danil] They think I'm wasting my time
[Voice] Did they try your cutlets? [Danil] Yes
[Voice] What did they say? [Danil] That I bought them from a shop
[Danil] People thinking I bought them in a shop is a pretty common occurrence
[VO] Today we'll compare three patties:
regular,
vegetable,
and the one that Danil grew in the his Belgorod University laboratory.
[Man] This is what I told you about: artificial meat not from a cow
[Woman] How's it even possible, Nastya? [Girl] Yeah...
[Man] How is it?
[Woman] Let me taste it. Well, it's just real meat
[Woman] Real meat!
[Man] That's cell-based
[Man] It's basically edible
[Woman] Tasty? [Girl] Yes
[Girl] It's tender
[Woman] Now the plant-based one
[Woman] Well, I don't like these. No, I don't!
[Voice] Is it like meat? [Man] If we're talking about meat...
it tastes like a cheap burger patty
[Man] Like meat, right?
[Voice] Which did you like most? [Girl] The first
[Woman] The cell-meat cutlet has won today's taste trial
[VO] And which one will the dog like best?
[VO] There are significantly fewer start-ups growing fish in vitro.
[VO] Although it's fish, and not meat, it serves as a symbol of food and prosperity.
[VO] Remember the biblical miracle when Jesus fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
[VO] Does this remind you of anything?
[VO] Modern fishing methods are now so effective that by 2050,
many are predicting the number of fish in our oceans will reach the point at which populations won’t be unable to recover.
[VO] Even now, 90% of large predators, like tuna and cod,
can't get back to their previous numbers.
[VO] Salmon rivers have grown much more scarce.
[VO] They're almost all blocked and polluted, so fish can't spawn in them anymore.
TROUT FARM, ADLER, RUSSIA
[VO] This fish-breeding plant in Adler supplies fry throughout Russia and neighbouring countries.
[Anastasia Stepanova, Deputy General Production Director, Adler Trout Breeding Plant]
[Anastasia] For the first time in 20 years, we're the only ones to register
a new breed of rainbow trout
[Anastasia] The main task in our selection and breeding work
is to increase their spawning period
[VO] In other words — to get as much roe as possible.
[VO] Spawn-ready specimens are selected and taken to a special workshop.
[VO] They’re immersed for a few seconds in an anaesthetic solution.
[VO] Measured, weighed, the roe is filtered out,
and then released into running water so the trout wake up.
[Suren] We add milt obtained from males to the collected roe, mix them,
add a fertilising solution to activate the milt,
and the fertilization process occurs within 10–20 seconds
[VO] Roe in the 'eyed' stage will be sent to fisheries across the country, where the fry are raised and sold.
[Suren Peglivanyan, Breeding Technician]
[Suren] Under artificial conditions, the selection's bred to gain weight faster
[Suren] Over 2–3 years, it'll gain the same mass
that the same fish in the wild would gain in 5–7 or 10 years
[VO] Almost certainly, this kind of artificially conceived fish is what you will later buy in shops.
[VO] Half of all the red fish we now eat is grows artificially.
[VO] For example, fish farms in Chile supply almost as much salmon today as all the world's rivers combined.
[VO] Can artificial food replace natural food,
as has already happened with this fish, grown from artificially fertilised eggs on artificial feed?
[VO] 2020. A bio-printed squid appears on the menu in one of Russia's best restaurants.
[Yusef Khesuani, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, 3D Printing Solutions]
[Yusef] We printed it from bean protein material
[Yusef] They did a very interesting experiment:
in one dish they combined a printed squid and a natural one,
so they could be tried and compared
[Yusef] What is bioprinting? We apply cells in a certain sequence in a 3D space
[Yusef] We can do it not only for the purpose of generative medicine,
but in addition for creating food products
[VO] In 2019, a bio printer even went space to print food there too.
[Yusef] Our cosmonauts joked we sent them a whole menu:
chicken or fish. Well, in fact, we had beef, rabbit, and fish cells
[Yusef] What was the idea? Print in space, then return it to Earth for analysis
[Yusef] The cells behaved quite well, with a high survival rate
and no mutations
[Yusef] They resembled small meatballs. In microgravity,
it all goes into sphere structures
[Yusef] We call it 'self-replicating food'
[Yusef] Today, around 70-80% of cargo sent to the International Space Station
is related to cosmonauts' life support systems. That includes food
[Yusef] Clearly, during long flights, this is quite a problem. We need food
that can be produced during the flights
MOSCOW REGION
[VO] This Biryulevsky experimental factory
has made food for space crews since 1975
[Viktor Dobrovolsky, Chief Space Nutrition Designer]
[Dobrovolsky] The large jars contain main courses
[Cosmonaut] Let's see what we have: oiled carp with vegetables, Kerch style
[Cosmonaut] Use a napkin in case of spillage...
and open the can
[Dobrovolsky] The can's aluminium, a costly material not produced on an industrial scale
[Dobrovolsky] But aluminium is used in space
[Dobrovolsky] When Gagarin went into space, neither he nor anyone else knew
whether it was possible to swallow food in zero gravity. It was unknown
[Dobrovolsky] So they decided to give the first cosmonaut food in a tube
[Dobrovolsky] Tube food could only be used for short flights
[Dobrovolsky] However, on long flights, cosmonauts have to eat usual earthly food
[VO] The plant’s current challenge is to make food that will be the same in space as it is at home
[VO] How much it should weigh was measures on these scales many years ago
[VO] But the menu is only updated periodically
[VO] In the three past years seven new dishes had been added
[VO] For example, omelette, cabbage soup, and liver patty
[Cosmonaut] Delicious!
[Cosmonaut] It's an omelette
[VO] They’re now making squash caviar, 100 cans before launch and a 100 cans after
[VO] The only preservation methods used are sterilisation and sublimation
[Dobrovolsky] There can be no odd food stuffs in cosmonauts' diets
[Dobrovolsky] Artificial proteins, soy proteins, synthetic meat and proteins
aren't allowed. Only natural proteins and products will do
[Voice] And in future? [Dobrovolsky] In the future, anything's possible
[Dobrovolsky] Currently, we have an important task:
to prepare food for future interplanetary flights,
first to the Moon, and then to Mars
[VO] Printing or growing food in space instead of taking jars and tubes aboard,
it all used to fall into the realm of fantasy
before it became science fiction.
[VO] Now we say that it really can come true, but the question remains: when?
[Cordeiro] We need to prepare to grow food in the Moon,
on planet Mars, and beyond.
[Cordeiro] So, this is actually learning for us to colonise the rest of the solar system.
[Cordeiro] We need to be much more efficient, and we will.
[Oksana] I think there will still be a traditional food category
[Oksana] But, chances are, beef will be very expensive
[Oksana] Maybe we'll just increase meat production volumes, like in Russia
[Oksana] We have all the natural factors to do that
[Oksana] At the same time, we're developing ways to reduce environmental harm
[VO] And in a final part of our experiment,
we asked the dogs to rate- cell-based, plant-based and regular meat
[VO] The first dog devoured everything
[VO] The second changed course to start with the regular meat
[Woman] Try it! How is it? Go on!
[VO] But the third, surprised us all
[Woman] Come on!
[Man] Ugh, disgusting!
[Woman] Try this one. Here!
[Woman] Masha's wild that Chuck's eating and she isn't
[Woman] So that's that!
[Woman1 ] Dogs chose real meat first [Woman 2] Yes, you can't fool a dog!