Farming of the future: Toshiba's 'clean'factory farm where three million bags of lettuce are grown without sunlight ORsoil

Japanese technology giant Toshiba ha sunveiled a huge factory farm where it is growing various types of lettuceleaves without sunlight or soil for sale in its new healthcare business.

Located in disused 21,000--squarefoot electronics factory in Yokosuka, Toshiba claims to have createda perfect 'germ free' environment where it will grow three million bags of lettuce a year.

Each plant is blasted with artificial lighting to trick it into believing it is exposed to sunlight, while vitamins and nutrients are injected directly into its roots, meaning the lettuce does not need soil.

The final product will be free of any formof bacteria, fungi or insect life before being placed into sealed bags, which should ensure the product has a longer shelf life than other lettuces.

There are already plans for the technology giant to build similar factories around the world over the coming years - andit will also be selling the high tech equipment that allows factories to produce similar products of exceptionally high quality.