Future of Food

Cultured Meat

Cultured meat is made by growing animal-based protein products from cells instead of getting it from animals. This style of meat is grown in a factory-type laboratory.

A gloved hand holds a petri dish with meat fibres in it. A laboratory countertop is in the background.

Cultured meat is made in a laboratory.

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Packages of cultured meat are shown at a grocery store.

After growing in a laboratory, this meat is sold to consumers in stores.

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Step 1

Live cells are painlessly taken from the muscle of chickens, pigs, cattle, or fish.

Step 2

The cells are put in a special medium, which is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid support that aids the growth of cells.

Step 3

The medium provides the cells all the nutrients they need to grow and multiply.

Step 4

The cells grow into muscle fibres, and the fibres can be processed and mixed with other ingredients to make minced or ground meat. The minced meat can be used to make burgers, sausages, and hot dogs.

Step 5

To grow cultured meat, there is no need for feed, water, or medicine for the animal, potentially making this method of meat production less expensive.

How is cultured meat created?

An illustration shows the steps required to make cultured meat. The steps include: 1. taking tissue from an animal. 2. extracting stem cells and putting them in the laboratory. 3. adding serum to be used as a growth medium. 4. stem cells are grown into muscle fibres. 5. the fibres are processed and mixed with other ingredients to make minced meat. 6. the cultured meat is ready to be consumed.

This shows the steps that are required to make cultured meat and deliver it to the consumer.

Learn about cultured meat and the scientific process of making it.

Plant Protein

Plant-based protein is food that comes from plants such as lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans. This style of cooking is starting to be popular, especially with fast-food restaurants selling vegetarian burgers, tacos, etc. These foods are designed to taste just like animal meat and have a similar texture but don’t contain any animal products. This is great news for Saskatchewan crop farmers, as much of the plant protein used comes from lentils, peas, and chickpeas.

A plate sits on a counter full of rice and sauce made of chickpeas and vegetables.

The protein in this meal comes from chickpeas.

Illustrated stalks of lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans are shown standing next to each other.

Plant-based protein comes from plants such as lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans, which are all grown in Saskatchewan.

A variety of illustrated pulse crops are shown in bowls on a wooden table. There are stalks of lentils, peas, and chickpeas laying on the table next to the bowls.

There are a variety of legumes that have lots of protein and fibre in them that are also low-cost and available around the world.

Learn about the protein options that can be provided by plants.

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A dozen chickpea cookies that contain chocolate chips sit on a baking tray.

You can use plant-based protein such as chickpeas to make protein-packed chocolate chip cookies.

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Smart Factories

Just like the rest of the world, factories are becoming more high-tech. Factories of the future will be highly digital, where machinery and equipment will improve food production through automation and self-optimization. Sensors and other data-collecting equipment will make sure our food is safe and ensure less food is wasted.

Smart factories will not require very many people to work manual labour jobs. However, many humans may be needed to design, code, maintain, and fix the machines and processing lines.

A factory has milk jugs lined up on a processing line.

Factories of the future will be high-tech and will not require humans to do very much manual labour.

An illustrated factory worker stands next to a large manufacturing line that has many lines of crackers on it.

This smart factory is making crackers that use many ingredients grown in Saskatchewan.

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