Alternatives to Animal Meat Could Come from Air, Methane – or a 3D Printer

With alternative proteins rising in demand, businesses are using science and revolutionary tech to provide wanting customers with meats made from plants, air, methane, or even volcanic springs.

“There’s a lot of climate anxiety,” says Pasi Vainikka, CEO of Solar Foods, a Finnish company working on a protein powder using water, air and renewable energy to separate food production from agriculture. “And people are looking for hope and solutions and they’re happy to see companies like ours, so that’s encouraging.”

Another company, Bangalore-based String Bio, is also developing a protein powder, but with methane from waste and natural sources. “We said this is probably the best impact we humans can have in this world, where we take something that we don’t need for the environment and convert it into something we do need,” says Vinod Kumar, a co-founder along with his wife Ezhil Subbian.

And the effort doesn’t stop there: many companies are following the footsteps of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods to create innovative alt-meats that don’t harm animals or the environment, and don’t take up much land. Spanish company Nova Meats, for example, is using a 3D printer using cartridge-style syringes filled with plant-based proteins that could print out a three-dimensional steak that tastes and feels like regular meat.