A Paris based biotech company called SMEY has developed lab grown oils including cocoa butter, palm oil, and shea oil using AI driven yeast fermentation that produces these products in just 30 days compared to the two years needed for traditional harvesting, potentially curbing one of the world’s biggest drivers of deforestation. Behind everyday products like chocolate, snacks, and lotions lies a devastating reality: vast tropical forests in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Latin America are being cleared for these crops, putting species like orangutans, tigers, and elephants at massive risk while releasing millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. SMEY’s system uses the Neobank of Yeasts, a digital database of more than 1,000 non GMO yeast strains that are “trained” through fermentation technology to produce oils that mimic or even improve upon the fatty acid composition, stability, and texture of natural oils.
An AI platform called SMEY.AI analyzes the yeast’s genomic and metabolic data to predict the best strain for each product, shrinking research and development cycles by nearly 96% and reducing years of trial and error to a single month while allowing oils to be tailored to client needs. The timing couldn’t be more urgent as starting in December 2025, the European Union will enforce strict new rules where any company importing products linked to deforestation could face fines of up to 4% of global revenue, forcing cosmetics, food, and chemical manufacturers to race for deforestation free ingredients. Lab grown oils created through biotech fermentation require no pesticides, little land, and minimal pollution when powered by renewable energy, avoiding the biodiversity collapse, soil erosion, water pollution, and widespread labor abuses including child and forced labor that plague traditional palm oil plantations and cocoa farming. While challenges remain including higher costs due to smaller production scales and consumer hesitation toward lab produced oils, experts believe these products won’t completely replace agricultural oils but will diversify supply chains, reduce exposure to fragile farming systems, and help global brands meet looming regulations while cutting deforestation and carbon emissions, proving that artificial palm oil and cocoa butter might soon become key players in the fight against climate change.
