Rome — Scientists are predicting that the familiar taste of vanilla or smell of roses, along with thousands of other scents and flavours, will increasingly come from a very unfamiliar source: yeast. And this is a trend that is worrying some farming experts. A revolution in science means the DNA of plants can be transferred into yeast, bacteria or algae, which can produce the required ingredient in laboratories within days. The compounds they produce are the same as those made by the original plants. Although only a few are on the market now, the number will increase, say the companies making them. "It is absolutely something that is here to stay," said Stephan Herrera, vice-president of strategy and public affairs, at biotech Evolva, which has put a handful of the products on the market since 2015. "So many speciality ingredients come from plants or animals that are rare, or disappearing or really not as sustainable as they need to be in the future," he told the Thomson Reuters Foun...
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