California-based startup Savor claims to have developed a complex process that eliminates the need to use animal-based materials to make dairy products while maintaining their flavor at levels similar to regular products. The company, backed by bill Gates announced it had created carbon dioxide butter, with the billionaire Microsoft co-founder testing the product on video and declaring he couldn’t tell it apart from regular butter.
Bill Gates has been investing significant funds for many years in various projects to develop various types of environmentally friendly technologies. It has been established that the cattle is at the top of the activities with the biggest negative impact on the environment, it is simply the biggest polluter on the planet.
The process
Savor is experimenting with creating dairy-free alternatives to ice cream, cheese and milk using a thermochemical process that breaks down fat molecules by creating chains of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen. The company claims its products have a significantly lower carbon footprint than animal products. Savor executives say its butter could reach the market with less than 0.8g of CO2 equivalent per calorie. The typical climate footprint of unsalted butter with 80% fat is about 2.4g of CO2 equivalent per calorie.
The question now is whether shoppers will stick to a diet based on these synthetic fats. Getting people to ditch their favorite dairy and meat products for more “experiential” foods will certainly be a challenge.
Supporting the initiative, Bill Gates said in a blog post: “The idea of switching to lab-grown fats and oils may seem strange at first. But their potential to significantly reduce your carbon footprint is enormous. By leveraging proven technologies and processes, we are one step closer to achieving our climate goals. The process releases no greenhouse gases, uses no agricultural land and uses less than one-thousandth the water of traditional animal agriculture. Most importantly, it tastes great, just like the real thing, because chemically it is.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UNThe livestock industry, which includes all dairy and beef farms, is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
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