The Rise of Cell-Cultured Foods

As we continue to move forward amid a global food crisis, many companies and organizations around the world are working feverishly toward finding solutions to some of the challenges and issues. One potential solution, which is garnering as much controversy and pushback as it is generating positive and optimistic dialogue, is cell-cultured foods. With this growing market in mind, we dedicate this issue of Canadian Food Business to the promise of cell-cultured foods and their associated benefits and drawbacks.
Amanda Wright and Eric Dassoff from the University of Guelph contribute a comprehensive article that attempts to analyze the latest in cell-cultured food technologies and the potential implications relating to production to nutrition, and everything in between.
We profile Vancouver-based foodtech pioneer Cult Food Science, speaking with the company’s founder, Mitchell Scott, about cellular agriculture’s potential to revolutionize the food industry, by offering sustainability, safety, and health benefits. And, we chat about the challenges concerning consumer acceptance, and the critical need for education and familiarity to help drive adoption.
In addition, we dive into the Canadian Food Innovation Network’s recent Foodtech Trends Report. With a focus on cellular food and an ever-increasing interest and curiosity among the public, we take a look at some of the factors that are helping to contribute toward this growing practice.
And, we take a look back in Moments in Time to the history of modified foods. From modified processes to genetic engineering, humans have a long and illustrious relationship with food when it comes to our attempts to improve quality and yields. Within this article, we present a condensed timeline of the most significant food modifications made over the course of the past 150 years or so.
As always, we hope that you and your teams enjoy this issue of Canadian Food Business, and we look forward to your comments and suggestions to help us improve the content we provide.