Neil Koenig Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme interviewer, in conversation with Benjamina Bollag, founder and CEO of Uncommon.

Neil comments:

As concerns about the sustainability of food production grow, could so-called “cellular agriculture” be part of the answer? A new Cambridge-based startup called Uncommon is one of a host of new players that are trying to find out. Instead of raising pigs on a farm, Uncommon is aiming to produce pork by “growing” it in a lab or factory. So how does the process work? On its website, the company explains that it obtains ”sample cells — specifically stem cells — from a traditionally farmed animal, and then we nurture them to reach a state where they can infinitely grow using a process called reprogramming”. Uncommon believes that the process can result in a product that has “the potential to be the same as traditional meat right down to the molecular level”. It adds that it does “not use genetically modified pork cells or antibiotics in our manufacturing process.” Still, it’s a field that is not without controversy. Some observers worry about issues such as safety and the potential impact on the traditional farming industry; indeed, Florida has recently banned “lab-grown” meat. But enthusiasts believe that products like cultivated meat have a bright future, offering a revolutionary way to produce food in a much more sustainable manner, amongst many other benefits.

I met Uncommon’s founder Benjamina Bollag at this year’s Symposium, organised by the students of St Gallen university in Switzerland. In this interview with me for ideaXme, Benjamina Bollag talks about how the idea for her startup came about, the many challenges involved in creating a radically new type of food, and her hopes and dreams for the future. 

LINKS BENJAMINA BOLLAG BIOGRAPHY   / benjaminabollag  

UNCOMMON https://uncommonbio.co/about-us/

ST GALLEN SYMPOSIUM https://symposium.org/ 

MUSIC Music: Space Heroes by MaxKoMusic https://maxkomusic.com/

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses Neil Koenig: / neilkoenig https://twitter.com/neilkoenig?lang=en

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