The next 30 years will see consumers turn increasingly to laboratory-grown meat cultured from animal tissues – with the potential to reduce emissions, land use and water consumption, the team from the FixOurFood programme at the university believe. People will consume a wider range of insect proteins and preserves as part of their daily diet, with the nutritional quality of termites, crickets, locusts and grasshoppers seeing them utilised more in food products, the report, for the Co-op supermarket suggests. Meanwhile, vegetable consumption will evolve towards embracing locally sourced seasonal produce and traditional preservation methods such as pickling and fermenting.
Lab-grown burgers and cricket salads could be meal staples by 2054, according to University of York researchers (Image: Co-op/PA Wire) Bob Doherty, director of FixOurFood and dean of the School for Business and Society at the University of York, said: “The last 30 years we have seen scientific leaps into more sustainable produce which were unimaginable to most back in 1994. From lab-grown meat to vertical farming, the future of food is set to revolutionise how we eat. “By 2054, British people will have edible insects on their dinner plate, and we may see the crushing up of crickets quicker than wholegrains.
As climate change continues to impact our planet, we’ll also see a shift towards locally grown produce, with avocados grown in Surrey becoming a reality. We may even see the introduction of 3D-prin.
