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The Inquiry: Can microbes feed the world?

Can microbes feed the world?

12/01/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Inquiry, Can microbes feed the world?

It’s being claimed precision fermentation technology can feed the world. But what is it?

Advocates of precision fermentation technology say it could make enough food for the world in an area the size of London and cut greenhouse gases by a third. Do the claims add up?

A campaign called “ReBoot Food” was launched at the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt, to ask world governments to support a technology called precision fermentation. 

They claim it’s possible to produce enough food to feed the whole world in an area the size of London. The process uses genetically-engineered microbes to make cheap, high quality fats and proteins, virtually identical to those produced by animal farming. 

Its proponents say it will free up huge tracts of farmland and could even help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

A technology research group is even projecting the collapse of dairy and cattle industries by 2030 with animal meat being replaced by food grown using precision fermentation.  

But what is it, what are the potential pitfalls, and can the public stomach the idea of protein grown in an a bioreactor rather than on a farm? 

On this week’s Inquiry, we ask: can microbes feed the world? 

Presented by Tanya Beckett
Produced by Ravi Naik 
Researcher John Cossee
Editor Tara McDermott 
Technical producer Mitch Goodall
Broadcast Coordinator Brenda Brown

(the world in a petri dish /Getty Images)

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