Hi Klaus,
Monday, March 20, 2000, 2:45:57 AM, you wrote:
KW> helo joel,
<snip>
>>My understanding is that within just a few short years after the
>>technical feasibility of this technology was shown in a lab,
>>Pepsi and Coca-Cola switched over to HFCS and the world sugar
>>market collapsed never to recover.
KW> and immediately ran into trouble. remember the coke/pepsi war and
KW> the withdrawal of hfcs coca-cola ("only apes drink coke") ? isn't
KW> the "REAL" coke again produced with "REAL" sugar-cane sugar ?
Not in Mexico. The Mexican sugar industry has been devastated by
Mexican sugar's being excluded from NAFTA until 2005 and HFCS being
imported duty free in vast quantities by the pop makers here. The
resulting glut of sugar on the Mexican market means heavy losses for
sugar cane growers, and a lot of noise is being made.
>>My prediction is that in the near future, it will be possible to
>>use fermentation technologies to cost effectively biosynthesize
>>the "significant" molecules of nearly all of the commodity crops
>>currently grown exclusively in the tropics. In factories in
>>temperate regions, biomass substrates will be converted into
>>instant coffee, tea, cheap chocolate....
What we are going to do down here is biosynthesize instant wealthy,
northern consumers.
KW> that's already going on for several years. but again people don't
KW> seem to be lucky with it in every case. there was an enormous
KW> uproar in germany half a year ago, which again undermined
KW> confidence in food. the largest producer of yoghourt in germany
KW> was selling his raspberry yoghourt with a label showing nice
KW> darkred raspberries and telling the consumer : "produced only with
KW> natural ingredients" (which the consumer clearly understood as
KW> "natural raspberries" or some kind of concentrate). it was found
KW> out, that the thousands of tons of yoghourt never in their short
KW> life came even near ONE SINGLE raspberry - the flavour was
KW> produced by fermenting the wood of a canadian tree to a pulp. from
KW> this pulp a flavour component was extracted, which tasted like
KW> raspberry. it could not even be declared "nature-identical
KW> flavour", as it wasn't the flavour being responsable for the
KW> original taste of raspberries. the trouble got before court
KW> (german government against landliebe), the yoghourt producer won.
KW> argument: wood pulp IS a natural ingredient. would you believe me,
KW> that consumers did (and do) not want to eat fermented wood, when
KW> they thought to have bought a yoghourt with real raspberry fruits
KW> ?
Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we endeavor to deceive.
KW> scandal after scandal the food industry is burying it's own grave
KW> and is feeding another way of food distribution. but: anyone
KW> expecting, that organic food per se would be accepted without a
KW> control system, which would be able to uncover such tricks, is
KW> talking moonshine... people know, that up to now things like did not
KW> happen in certified organic systems and so they have a
KW> "trust bonus", but they certainly do not trust it blindly.
Mechanisms that provide trust are not produced by degree, and WILL be
forthcoming as needed.
KW> so fermentation also is a two-sided sword and what a lot of people
KW> usually associate with cheese- and wine-making, ethanol and vinegar
KW> production partly has become the lab of dr. who.
KW> another fermentation technique was producing proteins from oil,
KW> in the result something comparable to that:
KW> # WOULD YOU EAT STEAK OFF THE PETRI DISH INSTEAD OF THE HOOF?
KW> Scientists have found how to "grow" a steak from a few cells -
KW> creating the world's first humanely produced meat. But will
KW> vegetarians go for it - steak from a petri dish?
KW> www.healthcentral.com/drdean/DeanFullTextTopics.cfm?ID=22902
Simulated life for simulated folks.
In any case, so far these are just anecdotes.
As previously stated, better options founded on the same biological
principles that got us all this far will always be available, and will
be so to a greater degree through alternative channels, as the
opportunity wanes in the conventional US market.
Mama Nature hasn't left us yet.
Douglas
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