ADM invests in firm making meat out of air

One of the world’s largest agricultural commodity traders is pouring money into a startup making meat from elements of the air.

Archer- Daniels- Midland Co., Barclays Plc and Google’s venture capital unit are leading a Us$32-million series A funding for Air Protein. The California- based firm combines carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen with water and minerals in a probiotic production process that converts the elements into nutrients.

It all sounds very futuristic, but Air Protein’s CEO Lisa Dyson says it’s like making yogurt, a process that involves live cultures, but that requires no arable land. If scalable, the technology will help cut agriculture emissions and even improve food security as the product can be made anywhere independent of climate, soil and weather conditions.

“There are going to be 10 billion people on the planet by 2050 and our current food production system is one of the largest greenhouse gas producing sectors,” she said in a phone interview. “The meat industry is the largest greenhouse gas producing sector within food.”

The company will use the funds to start an innovation lab, accelerate product development and commercialization, as well as to recruit and build a “world- class” team, Air Protein said in an emailed statement. There’s still no set timeline for when the alternative meat will reach the market.

Air Protein’s process creates a source of protein that has all the essential amino acids and is rich in vitamins and minerals including B12, Dyson said.

“Once we have that protein ingredient, we create textures and flavours of meat by combining different culinary techniques,” she explained.

“You can think of it as taking wheat flour and turning it into pasta, there’s different culinary techniques to do that, and in a similar type of concept we are able to use culinary techniques to go from that protein ingredient to final meat products.”

The investment comes as the faux meat sector is expanding, with the likes of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods Inc. making plant- based burgers. These companies, however, rely on crops like soybeans and peas, some of which have limited supplies.