What is the role of biotech in an ethical food system? Cell ag experts weigh in

Editor’s Note: New Food Order is a podcast brought to by AFN’s parent company AgFunder in collaboration with Food+Tech Connect, co-hosted by AgFunder’s Louisa Burwood-Taylor and Food+Tech Connect’s Danielle Gould.

The views expressed in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the team at AFN or AgFunder.

New frontiers in biotechnology and fermentation are being deployed to reduce the environmental impact of our animal-based food system. But do developments in cellular agriculture and biotech foods – for the creation of meat and dairy analogues – take ethics into account?

In this week’s episode of New Food Order, we speak with four leading thinkers in the industry about how we might use biotechnology to engineer foods that are better for people and our planet.

This week’s episode is our first roundtable format, featuring a diverse panel of voices, including: Isha Datar, executive director of New Harvest, Varun Deshpande, managing director of Good Food Institute India, Didier Toubia, CEO of Aleph Farms, Errol Schweizer, former VP of Grocery for Wholefoods and host of The Check Out podcast.

What to expect in this episode:

🧬How to define biotech and precision fermented foods

🧫What questions we should be asking about cultivated meats and fermentation-based foods

📣How you communicate with transparency the complexities of bio-foods to eaters

🔬The need for open-access scientific research in bio-foods development

📈Operating models for these technologies and foods in the global south

© The ethics of IP and corporate control of research and these technologies

 💲Who is investing in biotech foods – from governments to investors to multinationals

How to listen

You can listen in the player below, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please remember to subscribe and share with anyone you think will find it interesting.