‘Faux meat’ could help save forests

GRADUALLY replacing 20% of global beef and lamb consumption with meat-textured proteins grown in stainless steel vats could cut agriculturerelated CO2 emissions and deforestation in half by 2050, researchers reported yesterday.

Swopping half of red meat consumption for microbial proteins would see reductions in tree loss and CO2 pollution of more than 80%, they reported in the journal, Nature.

The global food system accounts for a third of all carbon pollution, and beef production is the main culprit within the agricultural sector, says the UN’s climate science advisory panel.

The cattle industry destroys CO2-absorbing tropical forests to make room for grazing pastures and feed crops.

Belching livestock is a major source of methane, 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2 on a 100year timescale.

Faux meat derived by culturing microbial or fungi-based cells undergoes a fermentation process, analogous to that for wine or beer. The cells feed off of glucose – from sugar cane or beets, for example – to produce proteins, which means far less cropland is needed for production than for red meat.