Companies in Israel, the USA, the UK and elsewhere are making huge strides in creating lab-based dairy, meat and eggs without animals. But, according to an insight article in FoodDive, the problem is now in trying to make a lab-based food sound appetising.

Although not mentioned in the article, a company in the USA has been working for approximately 25 years in first getting US FDA approval and then customer approval for genetically engineered salmon. By combining the genes of several species of fish, this salmon would reach maturity in a third of the time of normally farmed Atlantic salmon or even wild salmon.

However, after a reporter dubbed the fish ‘Frankenfish’ – combined with the company’s long history of poor marketing and communication – it has been a near impossible battle for the company to get consumers to eat its salmon despite getting FDA approval.

As FoodDrive points out, one company that is being quite successful in spinning a positive message to consumers is Change Foods which is making lab-based dairy products. Even though the company is about two-years away from marketing its products, it is already generating positive support through its informative website.

On its opening webpage, with a slice of very cheesy pizza in the background, it states: “We (re)create real dairy foods that delight the taste buds, nourish people and sustain the planet, by using the magic of microbes instead of animals.”

Irina Gerry, the company’s chief marketing officer, is concentrating on how to tell that story so consumers understand what it is when the first product arrives on shelves. 

“The technological capabilities are outpacing our linguistic framework and our understanding of what these things are,” she said. “…Very much a part of my job is to think about and understand: How do we bridge that gap in the way that’s least confusing and most easily understood?”