XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion is a multi year competition aimed at incentivizing research and development teams to create chicken breast and fish filet alternatives that replicate or outperform the conventional ways chicken and fish are accessible, environmentally sustainable, nutritional, and taste. It is estimated by 2050 that the Earth’s population will reach 9.7 billion people and the demand for high protein food products will increase, but the need to find sustainable, environmentally friendly, or carbon neutral meat production practices will be absolutely necessary unless we wish to devastate our planet even more.
Duke University research funding website does a good job at outlining the necessary information needed for potential teams to understand the basic requirements and deadlines for someone to apply and start working on an alternative food product project. The website states how the cash prizes work, who would qualify for them and what is needed to be eligible. The competition started in 2018, with the external deadline ending on May 31, 2021 and the whole competition ending in 2024.
Team Aqua Cultured Foods is a group working on using fungi and fermentation to make a fish alternative meat. On their website they state, “We start with widely available, affordable, unprocessed organic matter and add a nutrient-rich solution to “feed” and nurture the microbes. We then introduce a strain of fungi to begin the transformation. By controlling environmental factors like heat, humidity and moisture – and nailing the formula – the end result is a whole protein with a realistic texture and taste to traditional seafood“. They state that they have formulas that mimic tuna, whitefish, squid, and shrimp. They are currently one of the semi-finalists in the competition.
Team Good Meat is a group that uses animal cells to create meat. They can use the cells to create meat without any genetic modifications and because they can oversee the whole process no waste or animal by-product is made. The cells are theoretically infinitely used as they continue to divide and Good Meat doesn’t need to spend resources on growing feathers or bones nor feeding the animal. The whole growth process takes between four and six weeks then it can be transferred to be molded and 3-D printed into servable food. Good Meat is another group that is currently a semi-finalist.
Team Current Foods is a group that creates raw fish by using plants. They have two products, plant based tuna and plant based salmon. Their tuna and salmon are made of bamboo and potato for texture, radish and tomato for color, peas for protein, and algae for the omega-3’s and fishy taste. Because it’s plant based, there’s no chance of the microplastics that many fish currently have in their bodies’. Current Foods is another group that is currently a semi-finalist.
All three teams are based in the United States. Team Current Foods already has a product available on the market for people to purchase. While the two others are still testing and working on their project in a more private setting. Seeing as how one of the three projects on this list already has 2 commercial products offers up good hope that we’ll be seeing good alternatives to meat and fish.
Sources:
https://researchfunding.duke.edu/xprize-feed-next-billion
https://www.aquaculturedfoods.com/about
https://currentfoods.com/about-us/
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