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What is the Role of Biotech in an Ethical Food System? The New Food Order Podcast

New frontiers in biotechnology and fermentation are being deployed to reduce the environmental impact of our animal-based food system. But do developments in cellular agriculture, fermentation, and biotech foods – for the creation of meat and dairy analogues – take ethics into account?

Published March 1, 2023 | Updated March 1, 2023 | Isha Datar,

Do developments in cellular agriculture take ethics into account?

In this week’s episode of New Food Order, I join Food+Tech Connect’s Danielle Gould and AgFunder’s Louisa-Burword Taylor to discuss this and more alongside:

  • Varun Deshpande, managing director of The Good Food Institute India
  • Didier Toubia, CEO of Aleph Farms, and
  • Errol Schweizer**, former VP of Grocery for Whole Foods and overall food industry leader

Together, we discuss:

  • 🧬 How to define biotech and precision fermented foods
  • 🧫 What questions we should be asking about cultivated meats and fermentation-based foods
  • 📣 How you communicate with transparency the complexities of bio-foods to eaters
  • 🔬 The need for open access scientific research in bio-foods development
  • 📈 Operating models for these technologies and foods in the global south
  • © The ethics of IP and corporate control of research and these technologies
  • 💲 Who is investing in biotech foods – from governments to investors to multinationals

Listen here: What is the Role of Biotech in an Ethical Food System?


About the Authors
Isha Datar