Edible Tape

Phil:  So at Johns Hopkins, we've got some very, very smart students who have created edible tortilla tape to hold a burrito together. So the first, the first blush might be, why do we need edible burrito tape? They wrap it in paper while we get rid of the paper. This is, you know, food grade, it's edible tape. It's really a smart idea. It's one of those ideas, Sally, that, to be honest with you, I wish I would've thought of 

Sally: Me too. And good for them for coming up with this idea. You know, it makes me think about when I, how frustrated I get when I make enchiladas and the tortillas in the pan fall apart as you're getting them out. This is a great, great solution for that. And, you know, according to these students, even though they can't reveal a lot of details yet because they are currently trying to get a patent on this. But apparently it is all the ingredients are safe and it can, you know, keep you from having those messy burritos. 

Phil: Yeah. And it's two inches long and half an inch wide really, really smart. Good, good for those students at John Hopkins. We talk a lot about plant protein. We mention it with Kellogg's effort, but there's a new report that just came out. That shows the report is from I P E S and food and water watch. And what they're saying is meat companies, including JBS, Tyson, Cargill are investing heavily in plant-based proteins in lab grown meat, cellular agriculture. The market right now is 4.2 billion in sales. And they expect to be in 2025, not very long from now 28 billion, but there's some, you know, controversy about these big companies, these big meat companies, animal protein companies buying up these plant based. What's the downside for that? I would think that it's great. They've got money they're converting to it, but you know, people are saying not so fast. 

Sally: Yes. I think, you know, because, um, what we're hearing is that animal meat, conglomerates and other food giants can, are already controlling 80% of the meat alternative market. So they've bought up a lot of these smaller brands, which can, which consumers may not even know when they buy a brand in the store. And they think it's coming from a small company. They don't know that there's a big food giant behind it. And so that could be misleading, you know, consumers that are looking to buy from these smaller companies.