Food technology

Egg white powder is a widely used food ingredient, which means that a lot of hens have to be raised on a lot of farms, producing a lot of waste. There may soon be a greener alternative, however, thanks to a fungus which produces a key egg protein.

Food additives called emulsifiers are widely used to combine two liquids which ordinarily don't mix, like oil and water. And while most are made from dairy proteins or egg yolks, a new one uses spent brewer's grain which may otherwise be discarded.

Making inroads in the world of lab-grown meats is Israeli startup Future Meats, which has just received the largest investment ever seen in the cultured meat industry and is rapidly reducing the production costs of its cultured chicken.

Whether you buy your veggies from a farmer's market or at the grocery store, you need to give them a good wash when you get home. But how clean is clean enough? Help is at hand from an unexpected source in the shape of the PureGo PD100 from Asus.

With large high-tech sustainable farming facilities located in California and Texas, Silicon Valley-based startup Iron Ox relies heavily on robots to help shoulder the workload. The company's latest bot, named Grover, can lift over 1,000 lb (454 kg).

Scientists working to improve crop yields in the face of climate change continue to demonstrate how CRISPR could be pivotal, and a new study shows how the technology can be used to produce a mutant species of barley that sprouts at the right time.

Pretty much everyone has had the experience of finding forgotten food in the fridge that spoiled before any of it was eaten. The Nudge Tag system is designed to keep that from happening, via color-changing electronic dongles.

Although there's nothing quite like freshly picked mushrooms, growing the things yourself can be quite challenging. That's where the Mella Smart Mushroom Fruiting Chamber comes in, as it's designed to make doing so much easier.

McDonald's is preparing to bring a plant-based burger co-developed with Beyond Meat stateside for a trial run in a handful of restaurants, promising the "iconic" taste of a McDonald's burger with all the trimmings.

Following recent recommendations by an expert panel, the European Union has formally banned food coloring E171 from all foods, beginning in 2022. Also known as titanium dioxide, the chemical is commonly used as a white colorant in processed foods.

When ingested, nutrient-rich spirulina blue-green algae is claimed to offer antioxidant, immune-boosting and cholesterol-lowering effects. And while it's typically consumed in powdered form, the Bloom system lets you grow the stuff in your kitchen.

Scientists in China have developed a novel technology that turns CO2 into starch in a highly efficient manner, which could lead to massive savings when it comes to land and water use, and damage to the environment.