Foods made by multiplying cells in laboratory-like factories and processed to mimic meats could be a Canadian success story, says a report from Genomics Ontario.
The industry could be worth $12.5 billion and “this market will develop, and it’s just a question of whether Canada gets its share of that market,” said economist Michael von Massow of the University of Guelph at a recent conference held virtually.
“The opportunities lost are not only in terms of the revenue from producing these products but also from the science of developing these technologies.”
The report was authored jointly with the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of Fraser Valley in British Columbia.
“Cellular agriculture products are already on the grocery shelves in several countries around the world,” said Dr. Bettina Hamelin, Ontario Genomics’ president and chief executive officer. “The response has been growing consumer demand and huge industry momentum for these new and innovative products made in sustainable ways.”
“The longer we wait, the longer it will take, and we will be the ones buying the product from others. So really, we don’t have any time to lose,” Hamelin said during the 2021 Canadian Science Policy Conference.
Hamelin said the new products need not pose a threat to the meat industry because the global demand for protein is projected to increase by 90 per cent over the next 20 to 30 years.
About $9 billion in venture capital has been invested into the cellular agriculture field, including the Canadian Pension Fund and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund, which led a significant investment round in United States-based companies.
“It’s recognized by investors in Canada that this is a huge opportunity,” Hamelin said. “So, let’s create the critical mass and the companies right here so that we can capture the investment here and actually commercialize our own start-ups.”
Von Massow said “it is reasonable to expect that the market for cellular agriculture products will be in the billions over the next 10 years, and with exponential growth, even in the $10s of billions.”
“This market will develop, and it’s just a question of whether Canada gets its share of that market. The opportunities lost are not only in terms of the revenue from producing these products but also from the science of developing these technologies,” Von Massow said.
