Innovative Lab-Made Butter Technology

It looks, smells, and tastes like the butter we're all

familiar with, but

without the farmland, fertilizers, or emissions tied to that

typical process. And this butter breakthrough,

it's happening

right here in Batavia. In the middle of an industrial park

in a suburb west of Chicago, something unprecedented

is happening.

So you're using this gas right now to, like, cook your food.

Um, and we're proposing that we would like to first make your food

with, with

that gas.

The company is called Savor, and you better believe it.

Their pioneering tech uses carbon and hydrogen to make

the stick of butter you see on this plate.

This is, is pretty novel, to be able to make food that looks and

tastes and feels exactly like dairy butter, but with no agriculture

whatsoever.

And no long ingredient list the average person can't pronounce.

It's really just our fat, some water, a little bit of lecithin as an

emulsifier, and some natural flavor and color.

How? Fats are made up of carbon and hydrogen

chains. The goal here, replicate those chains without

animals or plants. And they did it.

They tell me, to simplify, they take carbon dioxide from the

air and hydrogen from water, heat them up and oxidize

them. The final result...

Uh, it looks like a wax, like a candle wax at first.

But they're fat molecules, like the ones in beef,

cheese, or vegetable oils.

Sustainability is why we are here.

It's all done releasing zero greenhouse gases, using no

farmland to feed cows.

We're, like, not at full capacity in this facility yet.

So-

And even though we're standing in a factory setting...

In, in addition to the carbon footprint being

much lower for a process like this,

right, the land footprint is, like,

1,000 times lower than what you need in traditional agriculture.

I know what you're thinking. I think we need to taste this.

I would love for you to taste this.

How does it taste?

I love butter. So I'm gonna take a really healthy amount.

Admittedly, surprisingly,

like butter. Cheers.

It tastes like butter. Another reason they say this makes an

impact, no palm oil, a significant contributor to

deforestation and climate change. That's not all.

Of the 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases emitted every year,

7% is from the production of fats and oils from animals and

plants. So when could you get a taste yourself?

Right now, they're working directly with restaurants,

bakeries, and food

suppliers, releasing these chocolates made with their

butter in

time for the holidays.

Savor Butter, in either its current manifestation

or with our

partners, we expect that to be on the shelves kind of more,

like, around 2027.

Their team's here in Batavia, Illinois, and their home lab base in San

Jose, California, backed by Bill Gates, who wrote in

his blog, quote, "The idea of switching to lab-made fats

and

oils may seem strange at first, but their potential to significantly

reduce our carbon footprint is immense."

Believing butter can make a difference.

This is really about how we feed our

species and heal our planet at the same time.

I put more information on food sustainability and how this could impact

our food industry moving forward in the story that's up on our website right

now, where you'll also find more information

about this company.

Reporting inside Savor's facility in Batavia, I'm Terra Molina,

CBS News Chicago Investigators.