A start-up company that makes food from electricity, water and air, Solar Foods, has said it plans to have 50 million meals’ worth of its product sold in supermarkets within two years. The Helsinki-based company creates a powder, known as Solein, that can be given texture through 3D printing, or added to dishes and food products as an ingredient. One quarter of the world’s carbon footprint is due to food production, but the UN has said there needs to be an increase in food of 50-70 percent by the middle of the century. The powder, which could provide an environmentally-friendly solution to future food production, is produced through a process similar to brewing beer. Living microbes are put in liquid and fed with carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles, which have been released from water through the application of electricity. The microbes create protein, which is then dried to make the powder. Dr Pasi Vainikka, the chief executive of the start-up, said the company had produced a carbon-neutral way to produce a fully natural protein source without wasting land or water. Pre-engineering on a full-scale factory had just started, he added.

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The Guardian