Launched last year, the Good Food Institute’s free online course exploring science behind plant-based meat (Massive Open Online Course) has since enrolled “over 3,700 people,” according to their Science Content Specialist, Renee Bell.
The course enables anyone to access industry and scientific information, previously only taught at Stanford and Berkley, from their homes.
“Now, the latest science on plant-based and cultivated meat is available to anyone with an email address and internet connection,” says Renee Bell.
“By sharing this information freely,” she adds, “we hope to inspire involvement in the plant-based and cultivated meat industries, whether that’s through entrepreneurship, investing, career choices, or the development of new scientific breakthroughs.”
Hooray Foods, created by Sri Artham, is one such breakthrough. Utilising the course’s information, he pioneered plant-based bacon. His company is still young, but seemingly successful according to GFI.
The GFI website states: “the 6-week self-paced course covers the biological and chemical processes used to produce plant-based meat and cultivated meat, the environmental and economic drivers behind these market sectors, and the dietary roles of proteins.”
Syllabus:
Week 1: History of alternative sources of meat and the economic impact of plant-based and cultivated meat globally; land use, nutritional profiles, and employment effects
Week 2: Understanding the structure of meat and its physiological role in diet: the biochemical structure of meat; its digestion; and nutritional considerations of common meat replacements
Week 3: Plant-based meat: protein sourcing, isolation & functionalization, formulation, and processing. Extrusion, the Couette cell, flavoring, binders, algal and mycoproteins.
Week 4: cultivated meat: what is it? Cell lines, cell culture media, bioreactors, and scaffolding.
Week 5: Current industry players, financial analysis and bottlenecks, and white space innovation ideas
Week 6: Sociological, ecological, and ethical considerations in the adoption of cultivated and plant-based meat. Understanding the policy and industry landscape for cultivated meat and plant-based products.
Anyone can register for the free course via the GFI website (click here).
