March 13, 2018

Dutch firm produces chicken protein sans chicken

Filed under: Dutch first,Science by Orangemaster @ 11:27 am
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BioscienZ, an applied microbiology startup Biotech company from Breda, Noord-Brabant, has been successful in producing chicken egg protein without chickens using fungi.

Egg protein is used in a multitude of foods and replacing it with a plant-based option seems like a much sought-after solution. The process involves having a genetically engineered fungus call ‘GRAS’ produce ovalbumin, the main component of chicken egg protein. And the reason it’s such a big deal is because GRAS has been producing twenty times more ovalbumin than the current world record.

BioscienZ expects to be able to produce the protein commercially within 4-6 years from now using sugar beet, sugar cane or grain-based sugars.

(Links: bioscienz.nl)

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December 11, 2015

Slaughtered, infected chickens now design objects

Filed under: Animals,Design by Orangemaster @ 6:24 pm

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Not a month goes by in the Netherlands without some sort of animal-related scandal. Why not then be a glass hall full kind of person and take bird flu-infected chickens to create an urn, for starters?

Dutch designer Emilie van Spronsen researched that if you heat a dead, infected chicken up to 70 degrees celsius for just three seconds, you’ll kill the H5N8 bird-flu virus it has. The country has killed a lot of chickens to prevent this disease from spreading, but Van Spronsen felt like the dead chickens might be of some use. “I brought a last homage to these H5N8 bird-flu chickens by transforming them into design materials and ultimately by designing objects with the materials.” Her work was displayed in October during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.

The H5N8 urn was printed in 3D using a combination of ash collected from cremated chicken remains and clay, and features a spiky exterior that resembles the virus as seen under a microscope.

Back in 2009 we wrote about a book that lists 185 uses for a dead pig.

(Link and photo: www.dezeen.com)

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January 15, 2013

Chirping chick song goes Dutch

Filed under: Animals,Music by Orangemaster @ 7:00 am

The Italian radio hit ‘Il Pulcino Pio’ (The chirping chick) has a Dutch version: ‘Het Kuikentje Piep’. It reminds me of a modern version of the Old MacDonald nursery rhyme, but with a generous helping of auto-tune.

Since this summer the original Italian version has had more than 50,000,000 views, on its way to possibly match and beat (gasp!) Gangnam Style, which currently has over one billion views.

Carnival in the South of the Netherlands is less than a month away, and this is surely going to be played to drunken crowds in many cafes. It is also a fantastic way to find out what kind of sounds many animals make in Dutch.

(Link: www.volkskrant.nl, Photo of chicks by homer4k, some rights reserved).

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April 9, 2009

Obama and fried chicken, Heineken logo rip-off

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 11:16 am
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Forget the fried chicken story: there’s no real Dutch angle to it, unless you want to celebrate the 400-year friendship between The Netherlands and New York City, although it’s a stretch. It’s a Brooklyn restaurant called Obama and people protested in front of it because implying that African Americans eat fried chicken is racist. Do they serve watermelon for desert?

Look at the logo of this Obama fried chicken joint: do you see the resemblance or is my coffee playing tricks on me? That red star caused enough problems for Heineken, are we going to go on a commie witch hunt soon, too?

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl, Photo by Paul Lowry, some rights reserved.)

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