(NaturalHealth365)  When we last discussed the company Bored Cow, our conversation centered on the concept of SynBio (synthetic biology) foods in general, specifically focusing on this particular brand of synthetic milk.  Unfortunately, we currently live in a world filled with synthetically created animal products designed to tempt consumers into eating fake foods.

Bored Cow is becoming increasingly prevalent and now available in grocery stores across the United States.  Similar to the trajectory of Impossible Foods, Bored Cow is likely to garner more media attention.  As these synthetic food products gain visibility, they may attract more buyers, potentially normalizing this type of food production.

Improving food production systems may appear to be a noble effort, but creating synthetic food is not the way to go.  In addition to the many health hazards and unknowns inherent in this type of food, there is a disturbing cultural trend to simply accept these things.  Let’s take a look at where we are now in relation to SynBio food in the supply chain.

What’s the issue with SynBio food?

Synthetic foods are not entirely made out of thin air.  Typically, the production process involves taking an animal protein and inoculating this protein into bacteria or yeast.  These microorganisms then proliferate the protein in a way that mimics an animal product like dairy or meat.  At its most basic level, this concept may sound appealing.  However, the synthetic production method requires extensive effort, chemicals, and previously unknown compounds to create what nature already produces using just sunlight and grass.

The ingredients in beef are (are you ready for this?): beef.  (However, it’s important to remember that the conditions in which the animal is raised dramatically affect the beef’s nutritional quality.)

One of the primary issues with synthetically created food is how this technology opens doors for more similar products down the line.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enacted standards in the 1980s to deal with biologically altered foods.  These standards were updated in the mid-2000s and 2017.

Unfortunately, these updates did not make the standards more stringent.  Rather, the revisions removed a lot of red tape that would have required these products to undergo more extensive studies and testing before going to market.

SynBio Milk and Bored Cow, specifically, are kind of like Trojan horses.  These first few synthetically created foods will pave the way for more similar products, and if the FDA continues the current trend, future products will likely undergo less testing and vetting.  Down the line, “Frankenfoods” will simply reference the acceptance of prior iterations and get pushed through the approval process, which is already rife with insider handshake deals.

The dangers of the bioequivalence principle

Bored Cow uses yeast to propagate proteins from cow milk in a complicated and chemically enhanced method to create a product that is similar to milk in taste, nutritional content, and mouth feel.  Chemically, if you were to evaluate synthetic milk, the product would have all the building blocks of real milk – all the proteins and fatty acids found in real dairy are present in SynBio milk.

However, just because synthetic milk is biologically equivalent, this equivalence does not mean the product is the same as natural milk.  True milk has a variety of enzymes that help break down the milk, enabling more nutrition to be derived while the milk is being digested.  Natural milk also contains over 400 different fatty acids and several different types of proteins, which themselves have several different subtypes within the milk.  Creating a synthetic milk product that copies all of these variables is nearly impossible.

Going beyond that, the true nutritional quality of milk may come from the combination of all these factors created in a cow rather than just the simple proteins and fats that make up milk’s basic composition.

Insidious problems within the synthetic food industry

In our prior article, we touched on the unknown chemicals and compounds present within synthetic milk, including fungicides, which are used to prevent the growth of harmful fungi and mold during the process of synthetic fermentation.  This issue is a continuing concern in all synthetic foods: the creation and utilization of compounds that are necessary to create the product but potentially inhospitable for human health.

A further concern would be the creation of future food with all the building blocks necessary to be a nutritionally sound product but combined in a deleterious way for human consumption.  Many compounds are inert on their own, but when combined with other compounds, these substances can produce negative effects.  The wide variety of chemicals necessary to create synthetic meat and milk gives even more opportunity for these potentially hazardous interactions to occur.

Avoiding SynBio products is a good idea

There are plenty of examples of FDA-approved products that proved to be harmful later on: statins, proton pump inhibitors, trans fats, and more.  A healthy distrust in agricultural science that does not come from the dirt or an animal is probably a good thing moving into the future.

Although Big Food tries to persuade you that synthetic milk and meat are perfectly fine alternatives to natural foods, this claim is untrue.  Putting grass into a cow’s mouth – which cows are very happy to do on their own – and getting milk is a very simple concept.  This process is incredibly efficient, has existed for a very long time, and provides milk, protein, and nutrition without adding any weird fungicides or unknown chemicals to the mix.

Regarding food choices, avoid consuming any products grown in laboratories.  Your future health will benefit from this careful decision.

Sources for this article include:

Anh-usa.org