www.foodtechnology.co.nz 13 sition to demonstrate global leadership about climate change, we are increasingly being seen as climate pariahs on the world stage, with very weak commitment to an urgently needed new global agreement.” So what is being done in food technology globally as climate changes advance? American food economist and author Jayson Lusk’s new book, Unnaturally Delicious, says lots. Technology and agriculture, he suggests, are working together in a healthy and innovative way to help solve the world’s largest food issues and improve farming systems around the globe. “Thomas Jefferson, George Washington Carver and John Harvey Kellogg were food and agricultural entrepreneurs,” Lusk says. “Their delicious innovations led to new healthy, tasty, convenient and environmentally friendly food. The creations were unnaturally delicious. Un- Each day, 200,000 people are added to global food demand More than 230 million tonnes of meat will be eaten annually by 2050 Threequarters of all future climaterelated deaths due to changes in food production are estimated to occur in China and India World food production must rise 60 per cent to keep pace with demographic change Threequarters of world’s poor and foodinsecure people rely on agriculture and natural resources to live Crop yield declines of 10-25 per cent may be widespread by 2050 Rising temperatures will see reduced catches of main fish species by 40 per cent Currently, a third of all food produced is either lost or wasted. Last year surpassed 2014 as the warmest year since at least the mid-to-late 19th century, with records broken in land and ocean temperatures, sea levels and greenhouse gases has developed colour-changing smart tags that can tell you how fresh your food is…small gel-based tabs that stick to containers of food and are programmed to change colour based on the expiration cycle of a product. The tabs turn red, switch to orange and yellow, before turning green when the food goes bad. NASA has been looking into 3D printing to see if the technology can produce food nutrient-stable enough for crew members in space. 3D expert Anjan Contractor recently told an audience that he envisons a world where everyone “feeds themselves customised, nutritionally-appropriate meals synthesised one layer at a time.” In Hong Kong, a new strategy to promote plant growth and seed yield by 38-to-57 per cent has been developed in a model plant, increasing carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere. The Food Cycler, a new kitchen device that sterilises, deodorises and turns food scraps into safe compost, will combat the near 475 pounds of foodwaste in North America each year. About a quarter of all food in your fridge is wasted annually. Tech start-up Soylent is working on a powder that will deliver all the essential nutrients needed in one glass of water… but it’s not alone. Inventing food sources that offer everything in an easily deliverable container will be a key aspect of fighting global hunger. In the United Kingdom, Plumpy’nut is an edible paste made of peanuts that’s specially formulated for starving children. TWO YEARS AGO, the world’s largest scientific society of individual food scientists and technologists unveiled Future- Food2050…backed by 18,000 scientists, researchers, technologists, food professionals and media from 100 countries. Its aim is to show how science will deliver solutions needed to feed the world as climate change bites, particularly through the medium of journalism. “Feeding nine billion people by 2050 simply can’t happen without science and technology playing a leading role,” award-winning author Josh Schonwald says. A colleague, Academy Awards-nominated film director Scott Hamilton Kennedy, agrees. “By looking at this challenge through the unbiased lens of science, our goal is to address critical questions surrounding food in a fair, transparent manner that will hopefully surprise, and maybe even transform, us along the way.” natural because the foods and practices they fashioned were man-made solutions to natural and man-made problems. “There are scientists (today) growing meat in the lab. Without the cow. College students are coaxing bacteria to signal food quality and fight obesity. Nutrient enhanced rice and sweet potatoes are aiming to solve malnutrition in the developing world. Geneticists are creating new wheat varieties that allow farmers to sustainably grow more with less. “And we’ll learn how to get fresh, tasty 3D printed food at the touch of a button, perhaps even delivered to us by a robotic chef.” As our food future looks more stark, scientists and entrepreneurs are teaming up to invent ways in which to feed people calories with less waste. At Hampton Creek Foods in San Francisco, scientists are working together to make an egg without the chicken. A team of experts
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