Singapore Airlines Is Using Aeroponics To Upgrade In-Flight Meals (qz.com) 13
Antony McNeil, Singapore Airlines' global food and beverage director, is purchasing produce from AeroFarms' Newark facility, the world's largest indoor vertical farm. "The 16-year-old agtech startup has taken aeroponics to an industrial scale, growing some 800 varieties of leafy greens, tubers, root crops, vine crops, and berries all without soil, sunshine, or pesticides," reports Quartz. Thanks to this partnership, "Singapore Airlines is the first major carrier to serve produce harvested just hours before a flight." From the report: "We now have the best opportunity to serve the freshest produce, and it doesn't have to fly 2,000 miles," McNeil explains. But do classically trained chefs have qualms about lab-grown vegetables, like many do when it comes to genetically modified meat products? After all, what a strange power to calibrate the color, flavor, and texture of produce based on the whims of a cook. McNeil seems unconcerned, however. "I have no issues with it because it's unadulterated," he explains. "It's just fresh, beautiful produce."
AeroFarms customizes orders by altering the environmental growing conditions; increasing the wind speed in the farm yields a firmer kale, for instance. "This is stretching our imagination," says McNeil, who dreams of experimenting with discarded stalks of AeroFarms-grown produce to flavor his soups. Beyond the quality factor, McNeil says having data that traces where and how vegetables are grown is a time-saver -- especially for airlines, where food safety is paramount. As he notes, food served on planes has to pass 10 to 12 critical control points in transit from harvest to the time it's served. Singapore Airlines is currently serving the AeroFarms-grown produce on flights originating from Newark and JFK airports. McNeil says the plan is to expand the company's network of sustainable growers to service more routes around the world.
AeroFarms customizes orders by altering the environmental growing conditions; increasing the wind speed in the farm yields a firmer kale, for instance. "This is stretching our imagination," says McNeil, who dreams of experimenting with discarded stalks of AeroFarms-grown produce to flavor his soups. Beyond the quality factor, McNeil says having data that traces where and how vegetables are grown is a time-saver -- especially for airlines, where food safety is paramount. As he notes, food served on planes has to pass 10 to 12 critical control points in transit from harvest to the time it's served. Singapore Airlines is currently serving the AeroFarms-grown produce on flights originating from Newark and JFK airports. McNeil says the plan is to expand the company's network of sustainable growers to service more routes around the world.
Awesome (Score:2)
It's always nice to see a new industry taking flight.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
It's solving the wrong problem anyway. The issue with in flight food is not that it isn't fresh enough. It's that at 11km up your taste buds don't work very well and the preparation facilities on the aircraft mean the best they can do is heat some pre-prepared meals.
The main thing that influences if it's terrible or just about edible is the type of food. British Airways serves British food which is awful at the best of times, where as Japan airlines serves stuff like noodles and rice which are passable.
Re: (Score:2)
It would have been cool if the vegetables would have been grown inside the airplane itself. I can easily see airlines taking legroom away from economy passengers so first-class passengers can pick the vegetables they want used in their salads.
Re: (Score:1)
"Aeroponics" is not on planes (Score:3)
The headline makes it sound like they are growing vegetables on board the plane, and serving them immediately in on-flight meals. That would be interesting, though presumably hard to justify economically.
But in reality, this press release is just about growing vegetables near the airport, so they can be quickly delivered in preparation for a flight. Literally the same as growing vegetables near a city so they can be quickly delivered to a restaurant.
Then there is the issue of indoor vertical farming vs traditional farming in the ground. But that too has nothing to do with airplanes.
Re: (Score:3)
It'd be extremely difficult to justify vertical farming of "calorie crops" / staples. But there is some potential in terms of things like lettuce and herbs. The vast majority of the energy consumption in such plants is in shipping, while they don't require as much (light) energy to grow indoors, since they're not storing calories as sugars / starch / fats. You also have far greater water and fertilizer efficiency and runoff abatement, and it becomes easier to automate production.
The question is overcomin
Re: (Score:2)
It does? the word "Aeroponics" made me think of pink ponies (as a poor substitute for unicorns).
Great match for rooftops (Score:2)
Because they don't use soil, the weight of aeroponics setups is much lower than other farming systems. The reservoirs are still heavy, but they are a small percentage of the footprint. When buildings need to be re-roofed they could get covered with greenhouses instead of traditional roofs, and the space used for food production. Anything that doesn't travel well is a good fit, especially greens and tomatoes.
Modified (Score:1)
Not GMO, not lab-grown... (Score:3)
[D]o classically trained chefs have qualms about lab-grown vegetables, like many do when it comes to genetically modified meat products?
Aeroponics is just an advanced form of hydroponics. It is not GMO. It is not lab-grown, unless you consider a greenhouse to be a lab.
This type of misleading query is a poor attempt to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.