There are plenty of reasons a person may choose not to eat meat, and it’s not just for the love of animals. Abstaining from meat has a positive impact on the environment and can sometimes save money, too. New research into the potential of lab-grown meat may help to eliminate at least some of those concerns.
Lab-grown meat – also known as cultured, cultivated, cell-based, victimless or clean meat – is an innovation in the works that uses cells removed from animals and cultured in a lab to produce meat that’s biologically identical to what comes directly from an animal.
This isn’t a vegetarian alternative – you won’t find black beans, quinoa or mushroom here. Lab-grown meat is just like the meat you find in beef burgers or chicken wings, but it doesn’t require animals to be slaughtered.
This creation is a more ecological and environmentally friendly approach to meat consumption, as it reduces the need for livestock. The University of Oxford estimates lab-grown meat could cut greenhouse gases by nearly 96 percent compared to what’s produced by conventional animal farming.
“Cultured meat is a technology with the potential to alleviate … concerns associated with conventional meat production, including greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use, antibiotic resistance, food-borne and zoonotic diseases, and animal slaughter,” writes social scientist and animal advocate Christopher Bryant in the August 2020 issue of The Journal of Animal Science.
While lab-grown meat is still a future possibility, that doesn’t mean it’s far from home. In Dublin, Matrix Meats is working to create cost-effective cultured meat products that capitalizes on the environmentally friendly potential of the domain and focuses on nanofiber scaffolds to produce clean, cost-effective and environmentally friendly cultured meat.
For now, a barrier to bringing lab-grown meat to market is cost. The current method of growing meat in a lab means growing and multiplying cells to produce real muscle tissue. However, Matrix is combating these challenges by using custom engineered cellular structures.
“I can’t think of many things more disruptive than growing real meat for human consumption without the massive use of natural resources needed to raise and slaughter animals,” says Matrix Meats co-founder and CEO Eric Jenkusky in an interview with Thrive Global. “By 2050 there will be a need to feed almost 10 billion people worldwide.”
With Matrix’s technology, the company can already grow beef, chicken and shrimp.
“Cultivated meat will create a more equitable solution for the world,” Jenkusky says in the interview. “Countries that don’t have environments for raising livestock and have always faced hunger issues will be able to grow their own meat for the first time by only needing a facility.”
Although cultured meat is still in the early stages of technological advancement, it’s garnered interest from consumers worldwide. Cost remains an obstacle, however. Acquiring the technology and producing the product at an affordable price is happening slower than desired.
In 2013, Dutch stem cell researcher Mark Post unveiled the world’s first cell-based hamburger – but you won’t find it on the dollar menu. Some estimates put the “frankenburger” at around $325,000 to produce, not to mention the seven- to eight-month process.
Fortunately, the cost has significantly decreased since then. Israeli startup Future Meat Technologies has reportedly produced chicken at just $7.70 per pound – still high, however, compared to the cost of a pound of conventional boneless chicken at around $3.80 in the U.S. at the start of 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
One additional positive feature built in to cultured meats is, because cultured meats aren’t produced by animals in crowded and confined environments, there is no need for the meat to be vaccinated against diseases like tetanus nor does it require the use of antibiotics.
While some firms and investors are pushing for FDA approval as early as this year, the products are not yet available in the U.S.
Mariah Muhammad is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
