Researchers at Southern Illinois University have developed µBites, a high-protein cookie synthesized from plastic waste and agricultural scraps as part of NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge for long-duration Mars missions. While the innovation demonstrates viable synthetic biology for resource-constrained environments and addresses projected 35-56% global food demand growth by 2050, external researchers caution this is not a commercial plastic-waste solution—current waste volumes (400M tons/year) are too vast for such conversion. The real value lies in validating closed-loop food production systems for space and climate-crisis food security, not near-term commercial viability.