Anneli Ritala is principal scientist at Finnish research centre VTT, specialising in plant biotechnology. She tells us about her career to date, and why she believes cellular agriculture and genetic modification are essential to ensuring our agri-food system operates within planetary boundaries.
“I did already my MSc and PhD theses on a side-track in biotechnology, focusing on plant molecular farming. Then I was employed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where all the work is on the applied side. We are serving needs of society and industry, and that led more to the food research, little by little.”
“It is really amazing to work in a multidisciplinary house like VTT – [there is] always something new and interesting cooking. I´m always saying that still after 30 years I don’t have the feeling that I need to go to work in the mornings but I´m allowed to go there and work with great people and projects.”
“We are working with the approach named cellular agriculture, which means the cultivation of cells – microbe, plant, animal, algae, and insect cells – in fermenters to produce agricultural commodities. My expertise is in plant cell culture technology, and we are developing undifferentiated plant cell lines for food ingredient use – for example, from plant species that are causing a lot of burden to the globe, like coffee, cocoa, avocado, et cetera.
“The carbon footprint and land and water use of these new cellular agriculture-based technologies is far less when compared to traditional agriculture. Furthermore, we can develop side-streams to be utilised as feedstocks in the cell factories.”
“I´m fully in favour of using biotechnology and genetic modification for improving our food – particularly making it more sustainable, as there is clear scientific data that they can do that. The safety of food is, of course, something for which we cannot [make] any compromises – it is a must-have feature.
“However, the current novel food and GM regulation processes in Europe are really hindering the progress in taking these new technologies to full use. The EU system is not working as it should work. Thus, most companies are taking their novel [ingredients] to other markets and building their factories outside Europe, which is a really worrying development.”
“This is really a great opportunity for me as I´m able to keep up to date [with] what is going on in the pharmaceutical research in Finland.”
“I´ve been so lucky that I have not faced any obstacles due to my gender – partly due to the fact that Finland is a country of equality. If I had, I probably would have been dealing with those [in] the same way as other obstacles – by not giving up.
“I´m really a stubborn person and I would have been requesting a justification, explanation, or reasoning. Of course, this is easier to say as I guess that the most difficult cases are those that are not that obvious.”
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