Is lab-grown salmon the fish of the future?
Created: 05/16/2022, 09:26
By: Sophia Lother
Laboratory-produced salmon could revolutionize nutrition.
And it can also play a major role for the environment.
California - Maki and nigiri bites lie on a plate.
Bright orange-red salmon garnishes the various sushi specialties.
They all have one thing in common: the salmon has never swum in the ocean or salmon farm waters before, on the contrary, its gills have never been in contact with water.
The reason: It comes from the laboratory.
A startup
from California plans to change the food world and make sushi-quality lab-grown salmon and is banging the drum.
Declining demand for wild or aquaculture salmon could not only benefit wildlife, but the environment as well.
But how is the artificial fish made and why does conventional salmon harm nature?
Laboratory-grown salmon as the food of the future?
Start-up wants to produce sushi-quality salmon
The start-up Wildtype wants to offer an alternative to salmon from the ocean or from aquaculture.
To do this, they use living cells from a type of salmon that can be found both in the Pacific and in rivers near the coast.
The cells of this fish, also known as silver or coho salmon, are then cultivated in the laboratory using a nutrient medium.
The procedure for in-vitro meat is similar.
This is how the start-up’s laboratory salmon is made:
removal of the cells
Growth in nutrient solution in cultivator
Shaping and finishing in plant-based “scaffolds”.
The cells grow in cultivators, which are very similar to the steel tanks used to brew beer, the developers explain on their website.
Subsequently, these cells must be given a structure.
To do this, the cells are “sown” in molds or scaffolds.
These are plant-based and allow the cells to grow into a fish-like shape.
But not only the form, but also the texture is imitated with the help of the scaffolding.
This growth process lasts between four and six weeks.
Other marine animals are now also being produced in the laboratory.
In Singapore, the company Shiok Meats is engaged in artificially producing shrimp, crab and lobster.
Their cells also grow in cultivators.
Fish and meat from the laboratory: is this the diet of the future?
Fish and other marine animals produced in the laboratory can not only improve the animal population, which is threatened by overfishing more and more every year.
Aquaculture also leaves its mark on the environment.
According to WWF data, much of the salmon that fills supermarket shelves no longer comes from the wild.
About 90 percent would come from aquaculture instead.
The environmental organization cites overfishing and ocean pollution as the reason for this.
But what is so harmful about salmon farming?
Is Salmon Harmful?
The problem of aquaculture for health and the environment
According to the organization, the salmon often become ill or infested with lice in cramped factory farming.
As a consequence, constant administration of medication can lead to them becoming more and more resistant.
These in turn are a danger to fish in the wild.
Another problem: If salmon escape from captivity, this can massively endanger natural fish stocks.
The environment also suffers from the diet of the fish.
According to quarks.de, in addition to other fish, soybeans are fed to the salmon in large quantities.
Vegetable feed makes up about 80 percent.
About 500 grams of soybeans are needed to produce one kilogram of salmon.
Feed production consumes resources.
According to the magazine, a large proportion of these beans come from South America, where the rainforest is being cleared for animal feed.
Is lab-grown salmon the fish of the future?
A start-up from the USA is entering the next round of development.
(Iconic photo) © Ramon Lopez/Imago
Environmentalists also repeatedly criticize the use of special agents in salmon farming.
In order to ensure the reddish colouration, the chemically produced "carotenoid astaxanthin" is often used on salmon farms, which causes enormous damage to nature around aquaculture.
According to Greenpeace, the use of the antioxidant ethoxyquin in salmon feed is also dangerous.
It is said to improve shelf life, but is suspected of being carcinogenic.
Nutrition: Artificial salmon from the laboratory - what's next?
The products from companies like Shiok Meats or Wildtype have not yet arrived on the local supermarket shelves.
But the latter was able to celebrate another success in February 2022.
They collected investments of 100 million dollars.
Among the investors were familiar faces like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos.
Justin Kolbeck, co-founder of the company, told CNN that the current production capacities are still “modest”.
He estimated that it could take about a decade before the company could produce on an industrial scale and emphasized that far more far-reaching measures had to be taken against overfishing.
(Sophia Lother)