How about cultured foie gras at Christmas? Dec 23, 18:02

Christmas season. Perhaps you've got an enviable dinner schedule, like french cooking with your lover or partner. But now, some high-end ingredients used in French are in harsh environment. So what is expected of the savior… (Toshiki Arai, Ministry of Economy Reporter)

Foie Gras Surrounding Net

Being exposed to headwinds is foie gras, one of the world's three major delicacies, along with caviar and truffles. Foie gras means foie gras = fat liver in French and is mainly made from goose and duck liver.

In its home country, France, foie gras is established as a traditional food culture, but animal welfare groups etc. forcibly feed geese and duck to feed and make the liver bigger is `` abuse '' Criticism had been occurring for a long time.

Under such circumstances, in October, foie gras attracted news from overseas. The New York City Council has passed an ordinance banning foie gras at restaurants and grocery stores. It is expected to be banned from 2022.

In the United States, measures have been taken to ban production and sales in California since 2012, but a court once ruled that such measures were illegal. Later, the appeal was overturned, but the controversy continued for a long time.

Outside of the United States, movements to ban geese from forcing them to feed are spreading across the globe.

Can cultured foie gras be a savior?

Will foie gras be eaten outside of France? Culture technology can respond to such food anxiety.

In August, venture company Integri Culture in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo announced that it had succeeded in producing cultured foie gras in August. This company conducts research and development of meat and cosmetics using cell culture technology.

I was worried about visiting the office, and found that the room was lined with laboratory equipment, which was like a university laboratory. In that corner, we talked to CEO Yuki Hanyu.

CEO Hanyu studied chemistry at Oxford University and started his business through Toshiba. He said that foie gras focused on the fact that they have less muscle fibers and are easier to make technically than steak meat, and have a high distribution unit price, which may cover the high production costs.

The company has developed a proprietary system that allows cells to be cultured without adding growth hormone, etc., resulting in significant cost reductions. Collect liver cells, such as geese and ducks, and place them in the tank containing the culture. After that, the cells proliferate and "meat" is completed. We are aiming to start serving restaurants in 2021, but the challenge is how to achieve mass production.

The production cost when starting to offer the restaurant is expected to be about 30,000 yen per 100 grams, much higher than the commercial price of real foie gras. If production is on track, costs will be reduced by increasing the size of the manufacturing plant, etc. By the time of general release in 2023, it will cost 3,000 yen per 100 grams, and two years later in 2025, it will be around 300 yen per 100 grams Aim to be.

"Today, foie gras can be made using culture technology, but it takes tremendous time and effort to make it large and automated, which is a very important point for launching it. We also aim to provide processed and steak meats using cultivation technology, but we believe that ultimately controlling prices is key to accepting consumers. ''

When you hear "culture", you may be a little worried that the taste is OK. When you ask Hanyu CEO about the taste of cultured foie gras.

Hanyu CEO
"The chef tasted it and it was very popular. If you aim for the real thing, the taste will be the upper limit, so I think that one thing that you do not dare aim for the real thing is one hand."

You don't aim for the real thing, that is, you aim for more than the real thing.

Challenges for dissemination

In addition to foie gras, venture companies and major food manufacturers in Japan and overseas are participating in the development of such cultured meats one after another.

American consulting firm AT Kearney says that cultured meat will account for 35% of the global market for meat ($ 1.8 trillion = approximately 197 trillion yen) in 2040 due to global population growth and other factors. , Predicts that it will grow to a size comparable to traditional meat (40%).

However, the extent to which cultured meat is acceptable to consumers is unknown. Nissin Foods Holdings Co., Ltd., which is conducting research toward the practical use of cultured steak meat, has conducted a questionnaire survey on the Internet in collaboration with a research group at Hirosaki University.

As a result, when asked, "Would you like to eat cultured meat?", The percentage of those who answered "I agree at all" and "Agree somewhat" was 27%. However, if you tell them that they could be a solution to the food crisis, the percentage tends to increase.

Another issue is how to handle cultured meat at restaurants and supermarkets. There are many issues surrounding the culture meat, such as how to display and disclose the production process, and it is also time to start discussions in order to gain a certain common understanding throughout society.

Although it is different from cultured meat, plant-based alternative meat has already become popular in the United States because of health-consciousness and environmental awareness.

In May, the pioneer of alternative meat, Beyond Meat, was listed and raised a lot of money, which was a symbolic event.

The production process of foie gras, which is pointed out by animal protection groups as "abuse". It may not be long before culture technology that may save geese from that situation will also save our human food crisis.

Toshiki Arai, Ministry of Economic Affairs reporter Joined the company in 2005 After working at the Kitami and Sapporo stations, currently covering a wide range of fields, including the digital economy, statistics, and disaster prevention