The challenge of feeding a growing population well and feeding them better without destroying the planet is a gargantuan task, but one that we must tackle nonetheless. How can we do so equitably? And what would it take to nudge consumers to change?

The Pinduoduo Food Systems Forum was held 14-15 July. 

"How Can Consumers Eat Well Without Wrecking the Planet"
Panellists:
--David Yeung, Founder and CEO, Green Monday Group
--Prof Jessica Fanzo, Professor, Johns Hopkins University
---Prof Jeyakumar Henry, Senior Advisor, SIFBI
Moderator: Danielle Nierenberg, President and Co-Founder, Food Tank

For more, visit https://stories.pinduoduo-global.com/

The highlights of the panel include:

• A discussion on the EAT-Lancet report, the impact and drawbacks of the recommendations
• Whether plant-based meat alternatives are healthy 
• The need to focus on the base of the pyramid when it comes to accessibility to healthy, nutritious food

For a video recording of the panel, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlo0IzOip8E

Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat, Rahul Ray, Senior Director of Tyson Ventures, and Prof Yaakov Nahmias, founder of Future Meat, discuss the future of cultivated meat and how the maturing movement can go from the initial novelty factor to becoming part of consumers' normal diets. The discussion is moderated by Louisa Burwood-Taylor at the Pinduoduo Food Systems Forum.

Highlights of the panel discussion that took place at the Pinduoduo Food Systems Forum on 14-15 July.

• The biggest challenges facing cultivated meat industry now are: (1) Getting production to scale, (2) securing regulatory approval, (3) getting capex to build factories after regulatory approval.
• Yaakov Nahmias of Future Meats estimates it’d require half a trillion dollars to set up enough production capacity worldwide to replace 60% of protein demand. The factories will need to be in South America, Africa, China, Europe, the US. “The only thing that we ever spread like this was the Model T.”
• Mosa Meats currently at “pre-industrial levels” of production with pilot plants in Netherlands, while Future Meat can produce “a cow a day” at current capacity. Plan for Mosa Meats is to develop first industrial-scale production line, hope to coincide roughly with regulatory approval, and then build factories in Europe and in countries that allow for cultivated meat.
• On regulatory approval, Singapore’s approval of Eat Just’s chicken nuggets at the end of last year was a landmark decision that has catalyzed the industry, getting more people and venture capital interested. Regulatory agencies are taking it seriously but not all have figured it out, according to Mosa’s Bosch.
• Cultivated meat can be more efficient than animals because the nutrients cater only to the meat whereas whole animals require nutrients to feed everything from brain, central nervous system, skin, “even the microbiome wants to eat from the same sandwich,” says Yaakov Nahmias, Future Meat

 Link to a roundup of the full proceedings of the Pinduoduo Food Systems Forum is available here.

In the 2nd part of our interview featuring Pasi Vainikka of Solar Foods, we dive deeper into how Solein will scale up and contribute to the de-carbonization of the wider food system. We discuss:
1）The potential for air protein to be the nutrient feed for cultivated meat
2) The feasibility of producing proteins in space with Martian carbon dioxide
3) Upcoming production milestones for successful scaling
4) How their technology can enable carbon negative food production

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