Professor smiling in suit jacket
Prof. Simon Somogyi

BBC News spoke with Prof. Simon Somogyi in a story looking at the potential for adding fish grown from cells to our diet.

Wild fish species are being depleted and fish farms are trying to meet the demand, according to the article, but is cell-based fish an alternative?

Somogyi said cell-based meats have a smaller carbon footprint than traditional protein sources, but their production requires large amounts of electricity. Nevertheless, lab-grown fish may have potential in the food market, and could be more promising than lab-grown beef.

“Fish has a better business case going forward than red meat because much of the volume of finned fish is turned into minced fish, and put into food such as fish fingers and fish burgers,” he told BBC. “Cell-based fish fits perfectly into that category.”

Somogyi is the Arrell Chair in the Business of Food and associate professor in the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management.