---
title: "Lab-Grown Collagen Is Vegan and Eco-Friendly — and Identical to the Real Stuff"
description: "Researchers have found a way to create lab-grown collagen without harming a single animal or placing an added strain on the environment."
date: "2018-10-09"
modified: "2018-10-09"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/lab-grown-collagen-geltor"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "clean meat"
  - "Protein"
  - "sustainability"
  - "the digest"
---

# Lab-Grown Collagen Is Vegan and Eco-Friendly — and Identical to the Real Stuff

![Researchers have found a way to create lab-grown collagen without harming a single animal or placing an added strain on the environment.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/lab-grown-collagen-geltor.png>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://pixabay.com/en/gummib%C3%A4rchen-gummi-bear-bear-359950/" target="\_blank"\>Ronile\</a\>\</em\>*

## Jell-Oh No

Gelatin is one versatile protein. It puts the "gel" in Jell-O and it's an essential ingredient in many other [foods](<https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/biochemistry/biochemistry/gelatin#2>), [cosmetics](<https://gmap-gelatin.com/gelatin-in-cosmetics/>), and [medications](<https://www.drugs.com/inactive/gelatin-57.html>). The downside: We can't produce gelatin without [harming animals and the environment](<https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Gelatin%20Fish%20TR%20Review.pdf>), since it historically comes from animal skin, bones, and tissue.

But a new startup could change that. It's found a way to create the protein collagen — the building block of gelatin — in the lab without the use of any [animal products](<http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Gelatin.html>).

## Twinsies

In 2012, the founders of California-based startup Geltor decided they wanted to figure out a way to produce collagen without relying on the animal products traditionally used in the manufacturing process.

They landed on fermentation, the process of using microorganisms to break down a substance. Using fermentation, they were able to convert the common elements carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen into collagen. Not something *like* collagen, but collagen itself, which anyone can then use to produce gelatin.

"It's nature-identical," Geltor co-founder Alex Lorestani [told *CNBC*](<https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/10/09/lab-grown-gelatin-is-the-fake-food-of-the-future-a-start-up-believes.html>). "It's just a pure protein, identical to the one you would find wherever. We just make it a different way."

## Progressive Protein

According to Rosie Wardle, the program director of a foundation that advises Geltor investor Jeremy Coller, lab-grown collagen is a major improvement over the traditional kind.

"The current system of protein production is a broken system," she told *CNBC*. "It's resource-intensive and having a massive detrimental impact on the environment. Business as usual isn't really an option for the protein-production sector going forward."

Geltor already provides its lab-grown collagen to cosmetics and skincare companies, but if the product passes Food and Drug Administration vetting, you could find yourself [snacking on](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/clean-meat-y-combinator>) vegan, eco-friendly Jell-O, jams, or juices in the not-so-distant future.

**READ MORE:** [Lab-Grown Gelatin Is the Fake Food of the Future, One Start-up Believes](<https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/10/09/lab-grown-gelatin-is-the-fake-food-of-the-future-a-start-up-believes.html>) \[*CNBC*\]

***More on clean food: [We're About to Get Many More Meat Alternatives](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/clean-meat-y-combinator>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)