Biomanufacturing brings the idea that in the future we can continue to eat the products we enjoy and need nutritionally, without the current costs of animal welfare and affecting the planet.

Precision fermentation as we call it today, has been around for a while for the production of vitamins and flavourings such as vanillin. From there to the production of high-value functional food ingredients, there is “just” a step and many startups are taking it, most of them are in the dairy ingredient space. But what about more commoditized ingredients? Can this technology go that far? How will regulations be supportive of it? And what about consumer acceptance at the end?

To address mostly the two latter points two alliances have been formed in the last few weeks - the Precision Fermentation Alliance, a global alliance made up of 9 start-ups, and Food Fermentation Europe, a European focussed alliance. Stay tuned to hear more about what is brewing in Asia.

And yet doubts emerge on availability of bioreactors, actual energy bill and carbon footprint when the amount of steel all these factories will require is factored in. There are also questions around the feedstock: when will we be able to switch to sustainable feedstock (think of agriwaste) without compromising yield and hence economic viability?

Alternatives to precision fermentation have been entering the spotlight. Can plants as a bioreactor solve the capacity shortages in steel bioreactors? Can cell-free synthesis go where precision fermentation can’t?

Hear more from the experts at the very first debate of the conference on "Next Gen Manufacturing: Feasible or Fairy Dust?"