Ep. 53 | Wood-Fed Meat? Marc Chevrel and Arbiom Say Bring it On

Meat from a cow who's eaten an entirely grass-based diet is typically called "grass-fed meat." So when you're making plant-based meat with wood as your feedstock, is it called "wood-fed meat"?

No matter what you call it, Arbiom has raised about $30 million to produce it.

Arbiom CEO Marc Chevrel is taking wood and subjecting it to a yeast-based fermentation that allows him to, within just one week, produce a high-protein food which can be used both for human and animal purposes. Just think about how long it takes to raise an animal for food, yet Marc harvests his protein in just one week.

Right now, billions of wild fish are killed and fed to farmed fish, farmed land animals like pigs, and to our pets in dog and cat food. What if Marc's yeast could replace the need for all those fish to be taken from the sea? Even more, he's turned his wood-fed yeast into plant-based meat which he asserts is quite tasty, and he says, very affordable.

So, is wood-fed meat the future of sustainable protein? Marc Chevrel thinks so. Enjoy this episode and you the judge.

Discussed in this episode

• Feedstuffs: "Arbiom achieves milestone in scale-up of 'wood-to-food' technology"
• The Spoon: "The Latest Ingredient For Alt-Protein? Wood."
• Food Ingredients: "Arbiom's alternative protein product has 'lowest impact on climate change'"

More about Marc Chevrel of Arbiom:

Marc Chevrel has been a manager in industrial fields for more than 20 years, with a varied experience in energy, chemistry, manufacturing, engineering and services. He was the head of the regional office for industrial environment in Northern France before working for the French Energy Regulatory Commission as head of the electricity markets. He then joined the nuclear engineering and manufacturing company Areva, where he held various management roles, including leader of industrial business units with a work force of several thousand people, and sales of about 1 billion dollars.

Marc has a wealth of international experience and he has worked and lived in four countries (France, Germany, Japan and the USA). Marc is a graduate from both École Normale Supérieure and Mines ParisTech and holds master's degrees in mathematics and engineering.