⚠️ Scanned on the Exposr app⚠️ Three days ago, researchers presented edible cookies made from plastic bottles at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in Chicago. Scientists at Southern Illinois University broke down PET plastic — the same material in your water bottle — into its chemical building blocks, fed it to genetically engineered yeast, and converted it into proteins, fats, vanilla flavouring, and beta-carotene. Those ingredients were 3D-printed into cookies. The lead researcher's explanation: "Because plastic is carbon and food is carbon." The vanilla flavouring — vanillin — was produced directly from plastic-derived compounds. University of Edinburgh scientists previously showed that genetically engineered E. coli bacteria can convert plastic bottles into vanillin with a 79% conversion rate. They confirmed the vanillin produced is "fit for human consumption." Here's what makes this relevant right now: 85% of the vanillin already in your food is synthetic — manufactured from petroleum-derived compounds. Less than 1% comes from real vanilla beans. The food industry is already flavouring your ice cream, chocolate, cookies, and cereals with petroleum-derived vanillin. Now researchers are proving it can also come from plastic waste. The project was funded by NASA for deep-space missions. But the technology to turn trash into food already exists — and the line between what's in a plastic bottle and what's in your biscuit is getting thinner every year. Scanned on the Exposr app - @exposrapp