US Department of Defense Calls for Proposals to Develop Cultivated Meat for Military Rations – vegconomist
The U.S. Department of Defense’s manufacturing innovation institute, BioMADE, has released a call for proposals to develop sustainable food and material solutions for military operations through its Sustainable Logistics for Advanced Manufacturing (SLAM) Project.
The project seeks solutions to address the causes or impacts of global climate change, including sustainable food production such as fermented proteins and cultivated meat.
According to BioMADE, the proposals must emphasize their technological components and demonstrate a DoD-relevant application of the innovation within one of the specified focus areas. Academic institutions, small businesses, and non-profit organizations can apply for awards ranging from $500,000 to $2 million.
Novel proteins in military rations
The call’s focus areas include sustainable food production, converting waste to bioproducts, carbon capture technologies, lowering the resource requirements for processing steps, and mitigating environmental impacts.
Sustainable food production focuses on developing a next-generation military ration system using sustainable food tech: producing nutrient-dense military rations via fermentation processes, leveraging single-carbon molecule feedstocks for efficient and sustainable food production, and implementing cellular agriculture to cultivate meat directly within the ration system.
Meanwhile, proposals converting waste to bioproducts must valorize waste streams by directly using them as feedstocks for bioindustrial manufacturing. The resulting bioproducts should have relevant applications within the DoD, and higher priority will be given to projects that will develop technologies to displace current manufacturing pipelines with large carbon footprints.
To accelerate the commercialization of these innovations, the DoD will prioritize proposals that build upon existing research and development efforts. The complete call for proposals can be found here.
Cattle ranchers protesting
The DoD and BioMADE aim to accelerate bioindustrial manufacturing to provide alternative processes with less environmental impact. Bioproducts, including food and materials, provide cost-competitive alternatives to animal proteins or petrochemicals — two drivers of climate change.
Just a few days after the release of the SLAM project call, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) issued a statement condemning the DoD’s research grant that will fund cultivated meat for the military.
Ethan Lane, NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs, said: “US cattle producers raise the highest-quality beef in the world, with the lowest carbon footprint – and American troops deserve to be served that same wholesome, natural meat and not ultra-processed, lab-grown protein that is cooked up in a chemical-filled bioreactor.
“This misguided research project is a giant slap in the face to everyone that has served our country. Our veterans and active-duty troops deserve so much better than this.”
