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Fishcakes In Space? How One Biotech Startup Is Fermenting Far-Out Food - Forbes

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Fishcakes In Space? How One Biotech Startup Is Fermenting Far-Out Food - Forbes

Fishcakes In Space? How One Biotech Startup Is Fermenting Far-Out Food - Forbes

Posted: 15 Jul 2020 05:41 AM PDT

With everything going on in the world right now, you might envy NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley for leaving Planet Earth in May on a rocket ship. Well, your chance to leave may come sooner than you think: SpaceX's successful launch brings commercial space travel a little closer to reality. As technology advances, humans are likely to spend more and more time in space.

But one tricky issue remains: sending items into space is extremely expensive—about $10,000 a pound. Space dwellers will need to find a way to make their own food. But in the vacuum of space, how are we going to "live off the land?" 

Emeryville, CA-based Finless Foods thinks it has the answer: grow fish meat in space...without the fish. And they've shown it's possible, raising hopes not just for space colonization, but also for sustainable, cultured food here on Earth.  

Harvesting from animals versus the lab

On September 8, 2017, Finless Foods made history by producing the first fish—grown outside of a fish—to ever be eaten. A select number of people were invited to try fishcakes made with cultured fish cells.

Finless Foods was founded by Mike Selden and Brian Wyrwas, who serve as CEO and CSO, respectively. They are both biochemists and molecular biologists by training, and they founded Finless Foods with a mission to bring sustainable, delicious, and ethical seafood to the world. The company uses cellular biology to grow seafood - without the fish. 

"Fish is one of the healthiest sources of protein on the planet," Selden said, "but over 90% of the world's fisheries are over-exploited or just depleted." As more people turn to fish as part of a nutritious diet, he says, the problem is only going to get worse. "We're taking the first step into a world where everyone has access to fresh, healthy, delicious, and sustainable seafood."

You may have heard the terms "cultured meat" or "lab-grown meat." These terms may not sound appetizing, but consumers and investors alike see the potential of companies like Finless Foods, Memphis Meats, Clara Foods, Just, Perfect Day, and Wild Earth, to name just a few, in making sustainable, high-quality food using the latest techniques in a new field called cellular agriculture.

Cellular agriculture is something like regular agriculture, but instead of harvesting a fruit, vegetable, or meat, you harvest cells. Companies can use biology to grow foods like meat cells and milk proteins from cell cultures in a lab-like setting. This high-tech process eliminates the need to use livestock to obtain the same products. Cellular agriculture promises to offer a more sustainable and humane alternative to today's livestock agricultural system.

And in space, where there are no cows or chickens, cellular agriculture might just be what's for dinner.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

As if making fishcakes from a few fish cells were not enough, Finless Foods has also shown the potential of cellular agriculture in humanity's quest to explore space. Last year, they sent fish muscle cells to the International Space Station in collaboration with a Russian mission and 3D Bioprinting Solutions, who provided a 3D bioprinter. The team was able to grow the cells to a certain density, then use the bioprinter to arrange the fish cells into 3D structures, forming small spheres of cells—the first step toward shaping it into something that resembles the food we already know and love.

You may think, "Why do all of this in space?" Well, if colonization is going to be possible in space, we would need to be self-sustainable and grow food on site. The average tuna weighs 20 pounds, costing about $200,000 to send it to space. And it's problematic to have a fish tank in space, where water is precious and gravity is lacking. 

Instead, imagine being able to just send a few cells of many varieties (chicken, beef, fish, your choice), along with the equipment and nutrients to grow the cells on-site. Not only would this be more cost-efficient, sustainable, and humane, it would also be faster. 

But growing seafood in space is not Finless Foods' main mission. They wish to make cultured seafood available to everyone here on Earth.

Challenges and opportunities in cultured meats

One of the challenges with cultured meat is to imitate the natural structure of the product. Grown outside the animal, cultured cells do not assemble as they would normally. This challenge is something Finless Foods would like to solve. They continue to collaborate with 3D Bioprinting Solutions and are hoping to get their hands on a bioprinter themselves to further experiment in their own lab in California's Bay Area. 

Will we eat cultured meats in the future? Selden thinks there is no doubt about it.

"Agriculture is an important part of the way the world works," he says. "It is at the intersection of so many different ways in which the world needs to change. Food justice, malnutrition, environmental justice, and animal cruelty...  It's such a big lever that we can push and change to make the world better off."

Selden says that our oceans are at their carrying capacity and that we currently fish everything we can out of the ocean every year. "We cannot increase this number," he says. While fish farming does solve some of the sustainability issues, he says not all fish can be farmed. In addition, the demand for seafood is increasing. "Fish farms have not moved human seafood consumption out of the oceans," Selden claims. 

"With our system, not only can we create these fish that cannot be farmed, but we can scale up very quickly. If you start a fish farm, it takes at least two years before you can produce any fish. In our system, our cells double every 24 hours, meaning our growth is exponential. The farm is not. We see this as a means of scaling up to meet the world's seafood demand in a much more efficient way." Selden says. 

The finest fish first

One of the main fish Finless Foods is working on is the giant bluefin tuna. Often used in sushi and sashimi, bluefin tunas are captured from the oceans and are not suitable for fish farms, making them an excellent candidate for cultured seafood. Finless Foods is also working on sea urchin, eel, and pufferfish. 

Cultured seafood is not yet available on the market. But as soon as it is, I can't wait to try the cultured bluefin sashimi.

Follow me on twitter at @johncumbers and @synbiobeta. Subscribe to my weekly newsletters on synthetic biology. Thank you to Stephanie Michelsen for additional research and reporting in this article. I'm the founder of SynBioBeta, and some of the companies that I write about—including Finless Foods—are sponsors of the SynBioBeta conference and weekly digest. Here's the full list of SynBioBeta sponsors.   

SPHP Sponsors Drive-up Food Pantry to Help Capital Region Families - St. Peter's Health Partners

Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:15 AM PDT

St. Peter's Health Partners (SPHP) is proud to have sponsored a drive-up food pantry to help address the growing issue of food insecurity in the Capital Region.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, and St. Peter's Health Partners helped organize the food drive, held July 13 outside the Lansingburgh Boys and Girls Club. Other partners included the Capital District Area Labor Federation, the Troy Teachers Association, Oakwood Community Center, and the Ale House.

Cars began lining up at 10 a.m. to receive bags full of free chicken, sausage, yogurt, milk, eggs, and produce handed out by volunteers, including more than two dozen colleagues from SPHP. The Regional Food Bank donated 12 pallets of food for the event, while other supplies were provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Nourish New York, a state-funded program.

"Summer is always a difficult time for families because many children get the bulk of their food in school," said Sister Betsy Van Deusen of Catholic Charities. "This year, it's even more challenging because kids have been out of school for so long. So many people are also out of work and there are a lot of unknowns and concerns of, 'am I going to have food next month?'"

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a perfect storm of unemployment, uncertainty, and anxiety. Because of this, Sister Van Deusen explains, the need for these food distribution events has skyrocketed.

"We started doing food drives like this in 2018. That year, we served 5,366 people. This year, as of the end of June, we have already served 33,000 people," she said.

In addition to providing volunteers, SPHP provided hundreds of bags to aid with the food distribution.

"Care of the vulnerable and poor is one of our core values. It's part of our Mission," said Melissa Zapotocki, director of community benefit for SPHP. "We're here to serve the communities in need. With so many people out of work and kids out of school, we want to do whatever we can to help get healthy, fresh foods into the hands of those who need it the most."

The drive-up food pantry is estimated to have served more than 500 families.

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Chicago couple brings authentic Italian beef sandwiches to Metro Detroit food stand - MLive.com

Posted: 15 Jul 2020 05:18 AM PDT

HAZEL PARK, MI - His family is Italian and he's from Chicago. Now he's brought his homemade Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich family recipe to Metro Detroit. We tried the food at Matt & Mo's Italian Beef in Hazel Park to see if it's as good as a place we crave when we go to Chicago, Portillo's.

The food stand is located inside Doug's Delight Ice Cream Shop at 24110 John R. Road. Owners Matt and Mo Marzullo said they wanted to bring the family recipe to Metro Detroit because there are not very many places you can find authentic Chicago-Style Italian beef in the area.

"I'm originally from here. I met Matt when I moved to Chicago. We wanted to move back here because I wanted to be close to my family," Mo Marzullo told MLive. "We came up with the idea to do Italian Beef because it really doesn't exist around here. We started our food truck and drove it all over Southeast Michigan to spread the word. Our goal was always to have a food stand and that's where we are now."

RELATED: Portillo's to open its first Michigan location

Making their homemade, authentic Italian beef is quite the process. It takes two days per batch. As Matt Marzullo jokingly put it, it's a pain in the you-know-what.

"We start with an au jus for the base. Then we add more than a dozen spices. We put the top round into a pan and sear it for an hour with garlic and other spices. Once we bring the au jus to a boil, we pour it into the pans and roast the beef for five hours. Then we strain the au jus, which we now call liquid gold. Then it all cools for 24 hours. The next day we warm the beef up, trim off all the fat and slice it paper thin. We then warm back up the au jus and pour it back in there, and that's how we make it."

If you want to sound like an authentic Italian from Chicago, tell them "I'll take a beef hot sweet dipped" when you order. That is an Italian beef sandwich with hot Giardiniera peppers and sweet sautéed green bell peppers. The sandwich is then dipped, or submerged into the au jus. It takes the perfect type of bread to withstand a proper dipping.

"We do get the bread from Turano Baking Company in Chicago," said Matt Marzullo. "It's a high gluten bread so it can withstand the juice when you dip it. A lot of people tell us that they don't want wet bread. I don't either. This bread is made to hold together. It's really just great."

So, how does the Italian beef here compare to one of my favorite places, Portillo's? I can't believe I'm about to say this in writing because I enjoy Portillo's Italian beef sandwiches so much, but the flavor of Matt and Mo's was absolutely terrific. Dare I say that I enjoyed it a little more than Portillo's?

THE MENU

Along with Italian beef sandwiches ($10.50), Matt and Mo's serves Italian sausage sandwiches ($7.50), a combo sandwich of Italian beef and Italian sausage ($12.50), a Caprese sandwich $9.50, regular fries or Sriracha and 1,000 Island fries ($3.50 + $1.50 for cheese), toasted four cheese ravioli ($6.50), Chicago hot dog ($5) and a Coney dog ($3.50).

Doug's Delight Ice Cream Shop serves Guernsey ice cream in its scoops, shakes and "Dougie's." There's also soft-serve, slushies, Boston Coolers, sundaes, banana splits, cookie sandwiches and more.

HOURS

  • Wed., 4 p.m. – 9 p.m. (Food closes at 8, ice cream open 'till 9)
  • Thurs. - Sun., Noon – 9 p.m. (Food closes at 8, ice cream open 'till 9)
  • Monday & Tuesday, Closed

MORE AREA FOOD FROM MLIVE:

People can't get enough of this ROADSIDE BBQ truck's smoked meats, grilled jerk chicken

GUERNSEY DAIRY reopens after $1M renovation with 50s soda shop, boozy shakes, new ice cream flavors

Detroit's HIDDEN RETRO 1950s DINER you may not know exists

Grand Central Food Hall Reopens With Indoor Hightop Tables - Eater NY

Posted: 15 Jul 2020 07:55 AM PDT

Grand Central has set up high tops for its food court

Parts of the Grand Central Terminal food hall have started to reopen this week, including one stretch of the station that appears to encourage indoor dining.

Thirteen food businesses in total are now available for takeout — including Murray's Cheese and Magnolia Bakery — and officials at the terminal have set-up rows of socially distant hightop tables for customers to stand at while eating their meals. The new dining set-up appears to violate Gov. Andrew Cuomo's ban on indoor dining, specifically as it relates to seating areas in malls and food courts, though it's not clear at this time whether Grand Central Terminal is classified as a food court, given that it is also a train and subway station. Eater has reached out to the governor's office for clarification.

In a statement to Eater, the Grand Central Terminal said they introduced the hightop tables "for convenience" and "general use by commuters and visitors." "This follows the temporary removal of seating to comply with New York State re-opening guidelines," the statement reads. Per state guidelines on dining at malls and food courts, though, it's not just seating that's prohibited from food courts and malls — it's also tables.

Most of the terminal's food businesses previously closed on March 16, when Cuomo mandated that restaurants and bars close their doors for indoor dining. Six remained open for delivery — including Zaro's and Pescatore Seafood — though restaurants in the underground dining concourse did not begin to reopen until earlier this month, on July 10.

The comeback of Grand Central follows several food halls in NYC that have reopened in recent weeks, including Dekalb Market in Downtown Brooklyn and the Market Line on the Lower East Side.

Additional reporting from Tanay Warerkar.

Two rows of hightop tables without chairs in an underground food court
Socially distant hightop tables in the Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal

In other news

— John Fraser, the chef behind the recently shuttered one-Michelin-star restaurant Nix, has reopened his popular neighborhood brasserie in the West Village. The Loyal reopens for outdoor dining, takeout, and delivery starting today, a spokesperson for the restaurant says.

— Manhattan-based Japanese restaurant Tonchin will be continuing its Bushwick pop-up through the summer, according to a spokesperson for the restaurant. Tonchin To-Go's shaved ice cocktails and mango milk kakigori will now be available until August 16.

— There's a new community fridge set-up outside of the Lot Radio in Greenpoint. The Greenpoint Fridge is stocked with fresh food by local community members and businesses and maintained by volunteers from North Brooklyn Mutual Aid.

— NYC restaurant group Uchu Hospitality, which owns the popular Sushi on Jones and Don Wagyu line of restaurants, has opened a new concept in the Gotham West Market. Bar Jones opens today for outdoor seating and will serve a menu of Japanese bar food and cocktails.

— Julie Reiner and Tom Macy, two of the owners of Clover Club in Brooklyn, are teaming up on a new line of canned cocktails, called Social Hour, which will be available in New York and New Jersey starting on August 1.

— Going into Wednesday like:

DeKalb partners with Atlanta Food Bank, local churches for food distribution events - Decaturish.com

Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:36 AM PDT

Decatur, GA — On Friday and Saturday, DeKalb County Government will partner with Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) along with Antioch AME, Welcome Friend Baptist and New Birth Missionary Baptist churches to provide 1,350 boxes of food to DeKalb residents, a press release said.

The event, hosted at three locations, is part of a $600,000 investment in ACFB to significantly increase the organization's capacity to distribute food throughout the county. The food distribution events will be as follows:

Friday, July 17:

–  10 a.m. at Antioch AME Church, 765 S Hairston Rd., Stone Mountain, GA 30083

–  1 p.m. at Welcome Friend Baptist Church, 3198 Bouldercrest Rd., Ellenwood, GA 30294

 Saturday, July 18:

–  10 a.m. at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, 6400 Woodrow Rd., Stonecrest, GA 30038

Each package of food will contain 15 to 20 pounds of produce, dairy and shelf-stable items. Food will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, one package per car, for DeKalb residents.

The $600,000 funding for ACFB will also increase mobile distribution capacity in DeKalb County targeting high-need communities that exist in fresh food deserts. The Atlanta Community Food Bank currently distributes more than 10 million pounds of food annually to DeKalb County residents.

The county has budgeted $3 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to underwrite initiatives targeting food insecurity.

For more information about DeKalb County's response to COVID-19, visit www.dekalbcountyga.gov/coronavirus

 

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