Now They Are Making Lab-Grown Fruit

We have all heard about lab-grown meat. But have you heard now they are making lab-grown fruit?

In 2018, experts from Finland found out they could make plant cell cultures that tasted good and were good for you. They have made cell culture lines that taste good and can be used in things like drinks or jam.

On some real shit, I do not trust this method. My question is, what are the long-term effects of lab-grown fruit?

They are not there yet, but the idea is to make apple slices that you could put in a baggie and eat as a snack. Researchers all over the world are sure it is feasible.

Now They Are Making Lab-Grown Fruit, How Is It Made?

Four stages are required to grow a fruit in a laboratory from cell cultures:

• Step 1: Multiplication—This is where stem cells are taken from the meristem of a desired fruit plant and then multiplied.
• Step 2: Induction of flowering in multiplied stem cells—This is currently the biggest technological hurdle.
• Step 3: Induction of fruit production—This can be done using organic compounds, rather than traditional pollination.
• Step 4: Growing the fruit—This part consists of providing the growing fruit with the optimal nutrients needed for development.

These endeavors require cell culture. Numerous cuisines use the term “lab-grown” for the novelty factor. Because the apple’s initial development took place in a laboratory, scientists refer to it as “lab-grown.” But Cosmic Crisp apples are grown on trees in the open air and under the sun, just like any other apple.

True cell-cultured fruit is not the subject of this discussion. The technology for this is quite advanced and so far, scientists cannot come up with anything that actually appears like a piece of fruit. The ultimate objective is to cultivate fruit with only edible portions. Thus, pears without cores, citrus fruits without peels, etc.

Given the technical difficulty and cost of development, one may question why continue. There is a sizable population that objects to killing animals for sustenance, but the number of individuals who object to picking an apple from a tree is negligible.

Why Green-Light These Frankenfoods?

Ben Schon, Senior Scientist with the New Zealand Plant and Food Research, discusses this with the New Zealand publication Newsable. As the global population grows, he sees lab-grown fruit as an additional source of sustenance, not as a replacement for traditional agriculture but as a supplement.

Dr. Schon is a firm believer in anthropogenic climate change and impending overpopulation issues. He believes that developing the technology to produce food in confined environments may be more long-term sustainable than traditional agriculture in the event of a climate catastrophe.

Lucas van der Zee, a horticulture and product physiologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, views the cultivation of only consumable fruits in laboratory settings as a method for removing land from agricultural use.

His Fruit of Knowledge project seeks to cultivate only the edible portions of fruit in laboratory settings in order to restore farmland to its natural state.

In general, proponents of this technology view it as a means to prevent food waste. Why have an apple tree with all of its foliage and branches if you only want the apples?

(Never mind that the trees are lovely, provide shade, and scent divine when in bloom. However, technocrats dislike dealing with intangibles.)

Avoiding food waste is a commendable objective, but why not increase funding for home economics classes instead of eliminating them in favor of STEM courses that most high school students will never use?

Treating home economics as an essential life skill and instilling the values of frugality and a cheerful, comfortable home would go a long way toward resolving many of society’s problems. Thrifty adults squander very little food.

Those who grew up impoverished are frequently inventive when it comes to preserving food before it spoils. However, the government appears uninterested in any solutions involving a confident and accountable citizenry. All solutions must be financially beneficial for favored industries.

So, why again? 😮

Is It About The Money Or Health?

True, but it is a significant amount of money. In President Biden’s March-released report, Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing, he promotes food and agriculture innovation. As we have discussed in this article, lab-grown food will play a significant role in this.

If this technology advances, the favored biotechnology industry will see significant new revenue streams due to the loss of market share to conventional producers and the patents involved.

Additionally, cell-cultured food products could be a useful vector for incorporating mRNA into food. We have discussed the efforts to cultivate crowns of lettuce containing mRNA vaccines. Researchers are investigating inhalable vaccines.

I am sure this sounds crazier than it should, but the fact is that powerful entities, including various governments and large industries, are attempting to get mRNA into absolutely everything.

You can go down the rabbit hole attempting to figure this one out, but the numbers reveal an unavoidable shift in consumer behavior. In March of 2020, Moderna earned $520 million in profit.

After reaching a high of nearly $23 billion in June 2022 and a low of $10.65 billion in June 2023, they have continued to experience phenomenal growth over the past three and a half years.

When companies (especially those whose shareholders include legislators and chiefs of state) begin to generate enormous profits, they do not want those revenue streams to dry up simply because people are regaining their health.

The drive for mRNA-based vaccines is pervasive. In human trials are mRNA vaccines for influenza, Zika, RSV, HIV, CMV, and cancer.

There are also efforts to introduce mRNA into livestock. Since 2018, the commercial swine industry has utilized a vaccine platform based on RNA. Although no mRNA vaccines have been used in cattle production, research is being conducted on the topic.

Similarly, while no mRNA vaccines for poultry are currently in use in the United States, French pharmaceutical companies are testing mRNA vaccines on their poultry.

The federal government has made commitments to promote biotechnology and biomanufacturing, and interested parties are attempting to make money by incorporating biotechnology (such as medical treatments using mRNA delivery platforms) into everything.

And, of course, all of this is done in the name of public health, but if it were truly about health, they would be advising us to consume less processed food, not more.

The concealment of food production from consumers facilitates all types of manipulation of the food supply. This is not to our advantage.

via GIPHY

Is Lab-Grown Fruit For You?

Thankfully, the technology to cultivate things that resemble genuine pieces of fruit is still a long way off. If you purchase an apple from a store, you are aware that it originated from a tree.

And even when it comes to jams and smoothies, where it would be simple to substitute cell culture lines for actual produce, the cost is prohibitive. Cell-cultured fruit is too expensive to smuggle into other foods.

However, it is prudent to pursue this technology. And there will never be a better time to begin cooking from scratch if you are not already accustomed to doing so. The less you rely on grabbing a bag of “whatever” to satisfy your hunger, the less likely you are to consume something you are uncomfortable with.

What are your views about lab-grown fruit? Would you willingly consume it? What, if any, pros and cons do you observe? Do you believe this will reach grocery stores? Feel free to leave a comment.