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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

bacon

Higher Steaks Creates World’s First Lab-Grown Bacon and Pork Belly

United Kingdom based startup Higher Steaks claimed in an announcement today they have successfully created the world’s first lab-grown prototypes for bacon and pork belly.

(Editor update: Mission Barns CEO Eitan Fischer reached out to The Spoon to claim they had created a cultivated bacon prototype this past May, but did not announce it widely at the time).

The production of the first cultivated bacon is big news for those excited for alternatives to industrially produced meat. While 2020 has been a big year for alt-pork, with Impossible launching their plant-based pork at CES and Omnipork debuting their plant-based pork shoulder, this news from Higher Steaks marks the first time bacon or pork belly have been developed from actual animal cells.

The interest in alt-pork shouldn’t be surprising since meat from pigs is the most consumed type of meat in the world. However, countries like China have seen huge viral threats to their pig population, with around half being wiped out in 2019 due to African Swine Fever.

According to company CEO Benjamina Bollag, the protoypes took approximately one month to create, developed from a type of a highly adaptable type of stem cell called induced pluripotent stem cells.

“In nature, you have adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells,” Bollag told The Spoon in an interview. “And this is a way of taking any cell in the body and bringing it back to the embryonic state. Which means that you can expand those cells a lot more and you can make any type of tissue.”

Higher Steaks lab-grown pork belly

According to Bollag, the company used stem cells to create muscle tissue, and used a combination of plant protein and fats to round out the prototype. In the future, Bollag says the company intends to use stem cells to create the other parts of the bacon.

For Higher Steaks, creating the world’s first lab-grown bacon prototype is a big accomplishment. Dutch startup Meatable raised $10 million late last year as part of their effort to create a lab-grown pork, while New Age Meats debuted a lab-grown pork sausage prototype in 2018.

If you’re excited to try out cultivated bacon, you may have to wait a few years. According to Bollag, lab-grown bacon and pork belly will take a while to get to market.

“So I think in the next two to three years, you’ll start seeing it in the upper end, maybe in select restaurants, small quantities” said Bollag. “I think for it to be mass market, really price comparison and supermarket, you’re looking more around five years.”

You can see my full interview with Bollag talking about the development of their bacon and pork belly prototypes below.

Impending Global Pork Shortage Could Mean Big Things for Plant-Based Bacon

Bacon lovers, prepare to tighten your belts. According to Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, the U.S. could experience shortages of ham and pork bellies as early as 2020 (h/t Bloomberg).

The shortage is due to an epidemic of African Swine Flu, which is rampaging through China’s pork industry. It’s so severe that NPR estimates that by the end of 2019, China’s pig population could be cut in half. Since China currently cultivates roughly half of the pork in the world, the outbreak will have some serious ripple effects on global pork consumption — ones that we will feel in the U.S. in the form of rising prices in the pork section of the grocery store.

That’s bad news for people who loves their bacon, ham, and pork chops. But it could be very good news for the growing number of companies producing plant-based pork products, especially bacon.

Several companies are developing their own alternative versions of the popular breakfast meat, or making technology to help others do so. Startups Hooray Foods and Prime Roots are both in the (very) early stages of commercializing their alt-bacon, and there have been murmurs that Beyond Meat is adding bacon to its product roadmap. Ecovative makes mushroom root scaffolds for meat alternatives, which it has successfully tested to create vegan bacon. Even Big Food is getting in on it: just last week, Nestlé announced it had developed its own version of animal-free bacon to complement its plant-based Awesome burger.

When it comes to other pork products, however, there are fewer options. Beyond makes a plant-based sausage, and there are products peddling jackfruit as an alternative to pulled pork. Right Treat in Hong Kong sells Omnipork, an alternative to ground pork geared towards Asian palates. However, we could start seeing new players creating a variety of plant-based pork products if China’s shortage continues.

According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world. That means that there’s not only a huge opportunity for companies to develop pork alternatives, but also a pressing need for them to do so if outbreaks like the one in China continue.

Bacon seems a tasty place to start.

Microwaveable Crispy Bacon is Now Within Reach Thanks to This Heroic Packaging

Crispy bacon lovers, your day has come. (Flimsy bacon lovers, who are you and what is your problem?!)

The U.K. company Sirane has created a package that will make microwaveable bacon consistently crispy — no more sandwiching between paper towels or messy grease splatters (h/t FoodDive).

In a press release, Sirane explained that the package absorbs hot grease from the pork as it cooks, which creates the crispy results. On the surface, this is a pretty mundane invention. But Sirane says that the packaging is actually quite versatile (though still admittedly bacon-centric): it can be sold as a sealed pack with a particular brand of bacon, or people can purchase the packs themselves and add their own preferred bacon at home. They’re also planning to sell the packaging to restaurants and cafés looking to up their microwaveable bacon game.

It’s sort of ironic that a U.K.-based company came up with this innovation since, at least in my experience, Brits like their bacon on the thicker, chewier side. But nobody likes an undercooked rasher — or a messy microwave cleanup. This packaging will surely lead to a lot more bacon butties for all.

Photo: Sirane