Ice-cream just got way cooler

There’s a lot of talk at the moment about how to make agriculture less harmful, such as by encouraging people to get their protein from vegetables instead of meat, for example; however it seems like changing our diets might not be necessary. Scientists have figured out how to decouple protein production from agriculture, through a process known as precision fermentation. Now this is relatively old news, but the first consumer product made with this process has just been released, and it’s a chocolate ice-cream (a good choice, ice-cream is what stopped me going vegan).

Humans have been using fermentation since time immemorial to make beer and bread among other things. Precision fermentation has also been around for a while, it’s what’s used to produce insulin for example. The difference between fermentation and precision fermentation, is that in precision fermentation the microorganisms involved produce specific ingredients. Quite a few companies are working on using precision fermentation for food, but this is the only product on the market so far, having launched just today. The ingredient used to replace dairy in this ice-cream is a product called Solein, made by a company called Solar Foods.

Solar Foods is a Finnish company founded in 2017, which has since been making big strides in commercialising precision fermentation for protein production, securing both European Commission funding to build their first factory (set to open next year) and regulatory approval in Singapore in 2022. This year they officially launched Solein, with an event featuring a Michelin-starred chef in Singapore. 

One of the most excitings things they managed to do with Solein at the event was to replace the eggs in pasta and a salted egg sauce; though back in Finland they’ve made everything from meat-balls to yoghurt using Solein with apparent success. Now the restaurant that hosted their Singapore event will be making vegan-yet-creamy, Solein ice-cream part of their menu.

It seems like they’ll only grow from here: a few weeks ago they signed a cooperation agreement with the Ajinomoto Co. Inc., a huge Japanese food conglomerate, who originally invented Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), and own a large array of food companies across the world, including 2-minute noodle brand Yum Yums.

If we embrace precision fermentation we could solve many of our problems: livestock farming accounts for a huge percentage of our emissions and ~40% of habitable land. Precision fermentation technology doesn’t require habitable land, it can be done anywhere, even in space, meaning it can greatly strengthen food security in many regions of the world, while freeing land for rewilding. It’s pretty cool that what could be one of the greatest revolutions in history is starting with ice-cream.