Discussion "Nutrition of the Future"

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Chicken nuggets made from peas?

Fish and vegetable farming on supermarket roofs?

One can get the impression that the food industry is changing rapidly.

In fact, Germany still has some catching up to do when it comes to sustainable, resource-saving and healthy nutrition.

The “Nutrition of the Future” panel discussion showed how central the topics of meat consumption and food labeling are: The cook and politician Sarah Wiener exchanged views with Pascal Bieri from Planted Foods GmbH, Nicolas Leschke from ECF Farmsystems and Frosta board member Felix Ahlers. And no different than in any average family, it became clear that it is not always easy to find something that everyone really likes.

Right at the beginning on the “menu”: meat that is not slaughtered but planted.

It is the Swiss Pascal Bieri who has been making vegetable “chicken pieces” from pea protein and fibers, rapeseed oil and water since 2019.

In a glass production facility near Zurich, modern meat substitutes are created that do not require any chemical additives and should be reminiscent of the original in terms of taste, bite and mouthfeel.

"In order to keep the cultural hurdle to eating plants small," says the entrepreneur, who now sells his products not only online, but also in numerous supermarkets in Germany, Austria and his home country.

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There is hardly a start-up in the food industry that has not made sustainability a priority.

And so Pascal Bieri also reported that his manufacturing process uses 50 percent less land and 66 percent greenhouse gas savings compared to conventional meat production.

From capital perch to capital basil

But what goes down pretty well with everyone who is always in the mood for new meatless salad toppings or burger patties, could not score at all with Sarah Wiener.

"Centrifuged pea fiber with pea protein is dead food for me," said the cook and politician.

"If I want to eat pea protein, I'll eat the whole pea."

Nor was she enthusiastic about Nicolas Leschke's mission.

With ECF Farmsystems, the Berlin entrepreneur specializes in aquaponic food production and wants to “do more with less”: It's about the synergy between fish and plants, for example by using animal excretions as biological fertilizer.

Since 2015, “capital perch” and “capital basil” have been bred in the Berlin farm on around 1,800 square meters.

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In the meantime, aquaponic systems are being planned and built across Europe.

A farm is to be built on a supermarket in Wiesbaden.

“With this combination, you can produce fish and vegetables in a very resource-efficient and water-saving manner.

In an urban environment, there are also short transport routes and cold chains. "

Sarah Wiener also brushed aside the good living conditions for fish.

She prefers to see aquatic animals in their natural environment.

“I am in favor of a powerful nature suitable for grandchildren, which will no longer exist if we think we can bring agriculture into the cities or on supermarket roofs.” She not only has her own foundation, but also runs one in Uckermark Organic farm with animal breeding, slaughtering and sausage and meat production.

Not renunciation, but limitation

Wiener, who sits in the EU Parliament as a non-party for the Austrian Greens, it is important to consider the complexity of the food chain.

It is far too short-sighted to compare factory farming with mere surrogates or products with a better carbon footprint.

"Less bad is better, but still not really good." There is a delicious vegetarian cuisine that does not need any industry and that could step in if everyone simply ate less meat.

The motto is not renunciation, but rather restriction - which in turn increases enjoyment.

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Felix Ahlers, CEO of Frosta, represented the classic food industry. The founder's son believes that better food can be produced on a large scale. The Bremerhaven-based company had already decided in 2003 to forego chemical additives - and initially had massive problems because of the associated price increase. Since 2009, the CO2 footprint has also been calculated for all products. In addition, there is an endeavor to offer more and more dishes without meat.

Does sustainability attract customers as a sales argument?

“The most important thing is that the product tastes good,” said Ahlers.

"At the same time, of course, we notice that things like animal welfare and our own health have become much more important, especially now in the Corona era." People. ”As an example, he cited an advertisement in which the“ Omega 3 ”topic worked significantly better than“ sustainable fishing ”.

Declarations should become mandatory across Europe

What is important to Ahlers is more precise labeling of food: “Europe-wide, much clearer declarations should be mandatory so that consumers can find their way around. That would automatically lead to people becoming more critical. ”Nicolas Leschke prefers to rely on transparency rather than too many seals of approval. “We grow our basil in organic quality, but we don't write it on it. The customers just know us. "

Seals are a topic that Sarah Wiener also likes to passionately discuss.

It is simply no longer possible to map all the requirements that now exist with just one label.

More labeling is not a solution either, since not all additives have to be identified.

"If nutrition has become so complicated that nobody can say what exactly is in it, then a huge transformation of our food system is all the more necessary."

There is also a simple solution: “namely, cook fresh with primary products - preferably ecological and from the region.

Otherwise we will always eat what an industry or a branch of the economy serves us. ”It is also necessary to promote decentralized, ecological, diverse and small-scale agriculture in various alternative organic systems.

The demands in the group were high, the opinions on how the necessary changes could be achieved were diverse. Pascal Bieri emphasized once again: "The reality is that we are a very heterogeneous society." In other words, a society in which convenience food also has its place. "Because not everyone attaches the same importance to nutrition or simply doesn't have the time to cook, we like to pick up consumers where they are in order to introduce them step by step to a plant-based diet." Because the future will be meatless will - everyone agreed on that.