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LAB-GROWN SEAFOOD
Other startups like California-based BlueNalu are growing mercury-free seafood cells in labs to ensure a stable supply chain in the face of over-fishing, illegal fishing and the effects of warming oceans.
BlueNalu's president and CEO Lou Cooperhouse said it had developed a natural process to grow the muscle cells that are a major component of fish without genetic modification.
"We're focused on fin fish as a first broad category, and it's our next objective to go on to crustaceans like lobster and crab and, ultimately, molluscs," he said.
The company expects to test its products on the market within two to three years and start large-scale production in five years.
Until cell-based seafood reaches supermarket shelves, retailers and consumers will have to rely on farmed fish, which already accounts for half of global consumption, the FAO says.
Levels of omega-3 fatty acids, essential for human health, have fallen in farmed fish since over-fishing concerns spawned a switch from feed rich in oily fish to soy and other alternatives.
In response, Johnathan Napier and his team at Britain's Rothamsted Research, an agricultural science centre, have genetically modified plants whose seeds produce the two key acids that make up omega-3.
"If we can use a land-based source of fish oils as a way of augmenting or adding to the stuff from the oceans, then we can relieve the pressure on the oceans," he said, adding that the end result would also be far more affordable.
After 20 years of research and five years of field trials, Napier plans to apply for regulatory approval in North America.
In Europe, GMO crops remain controversial, with very few varieties authorised for growing and some countries like France banning their cultivation, citing environmental risks.
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