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Technological revolutions usually leave societies better off than they were before, but that’s never without some collateral damage. We are now at the dawn of an imminent Biological Revolution that promises to impact all areas of our lives, from health to food, climate, manufacturing, and much more. The general assumption is that technology is intrinsically neutral — it can be used for either good or bad and the outcome depends on the person or group who uses it. However, history has shown us time and time again that this is not entirely true.

One significant hurdle on the path toward achieving consumer acceptance of cellular agriculture technologies and products is the difficulty in producing whole cuts of meat and seafood, such as steaks and fillets. Chitin- and chitosan-based scaffolds show promise for improving both the scalability and nutritional value of such cell-cultured meat products.

What options are on the food-tech menu for achieving long-term protein security? Cell culture, plants, microorganisms, algae, and fungi may all have roles to play. But from a sustainability and resilience perspective, is there a clear winner?

Gene-recombinant biotechnologies aim to produce key animal proteins at a fraction of the cost of conventional animal husbandry. The implications for research, medicine, food systems, and the climate could be huge. But can these emergent technologies scale quickly enough to spur system-wide change?

Seaweed is the collective noun for a group of at least 10,000 species of macroalgae, and new species are being discovered each year. Although seaweeds have been consumed for millennia, they’re increasingly (and rightly) viewed as a hero ingredient. With only half a dozen species cultivated at scale right now, seaweed’s potential for the alt-protein industry is only just starting to unfold.