A new and expanding version of the ‘E-Number’ or ‘European Number’ food additive system.
This rendition only includes engineered or edited micro-organisms which have been altered, created or re-programmed through novel scientific methods to produce food additives. The library, a resource to borrow, deposit and reference.
Developed to counter or bypass the current rapid change in the climate, the decline of some species or for entirely novel purposes, these micro-organisms are new to the world-
They have not previously existed in nature in the same way.
They are born in laboratories through integrating science, engineering & computing.
They are entirely biological.
Undisclosed or difficult to read, identify and decipher on food labelling, some of the additives produced by these micro-organisms are in our food systems- in products at supermarkets, grocery stores, restaurants, markets and cafes.
They can also be described as ‘nature identical’ or even ‘natural’.
Some of the additives produced by the novel micro-organisms are classed as natural due to being created through the natural process of fermentation (how beer and wine are made) or if the engineered micro-organisms are not present in the final additive or product and finally if the additives are chemically identical as the those found in nature- an exact copy that has however come through an alternative route.
The E-NUMBERS v2.0 project aims to open the ‘black-box’ and make transparent the changes taking place within our food landscape of a new kind.