Star Trek Type Food Replicators Make “Meat” Out of Thin Air

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, we are not sure what it tastes like but all this talk of space travel following NASA’s landing on Mars  but using space-age technology to make “meat” out of thin air is science, not fiction. Sounding like the food replicators on the TV Star Trek a new entrant to the edible protein scene, the Berkeley-based startup Air Protein makes a meat alternative using NASA-inspired fermentation technology to transform CO2 — what we exhale into the air — into a complete edible protein.

While other well-known meat alternative companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat make plant-based protein from soy and peas, Air Protein is the first to make “air-based” protein by farming carbon from the air with microbes. The startup’s recent $32 million Series A funding round, closed in January and led by investors ADM Ventures, Barclays and GV (formerly Google Ventures), secures its spot in the rapidly expanding field of meatless meat in the new wave of alternative protein technology  fermentation.

Air Protein is a startup that makes a meat alternative using fermentation technology. Its technology can transform CO2 into a complete edible protein, making meat in days while using exponentially less arable land, natural resources, and with less greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional farming. The protein flour produced by the microbes can be made into a range of meatless meat products. Fermentation technology has enabled a new wave of alternative protein products. More than $1.5 billion was invested into companies making alternative protein in 2020, with at least $435 million of that just for those using fermentation.