Cultured Meat: The Next Food Revolution?
As the human race continues to grow at an extreme rate, scientists are coming up with more and more sustainable substitutions for meat. I’m sure most of you aren’t necessarily keen on eating insects or a magical pill with all the nutrients you need in a day. But what about lab-grown meat, or also known as cultured meat? In case you haven’t heard of it, cultured meat grown in a lab using animal cells that are tricked into growing as they usually would in a species. This means they can develop meat without slaughtering animals, which is more ethical and possibly more sustainable. Would you eat it? I think it is a great idea but I wouldn't want to eat it just yet.
Here are a few factors you may want to consider.
Firstly, the texture and taste of clean meat isn’t right, just yet. The scientists are currently working on building the cells in a way that will feel the same as the meat we are used to. They also haven’t been able to make steak because of its complex variation of muscle and fat cells. This is obviously a challenge but if they can pull it off it could be revolutionary. Until then, I probably wouldn’t want to eat mushy, tasteless meat but that’s just my preference.
Secondly, although cultured meat takes slaughtering out of the picture, it isn’t 100% animal-friendly. To supply the meat with proteins necessary for cell division, it must be given a serum which is, at the moment, the blood of tiny cows. This is not sustainable, cruelty-free or low-cost. Accoriding to Wired, "a lab-grown burger introduced in 2013 cost a cool $330,000." They have been trying to make clean meat cheaper by using less serum, but I think they should focus on developing an entirely different type of serum to use so it could be advertised as animal-friendly.
Lastly, there isn’t really proof that lab-developed meat is actually more environmentally sustainable than livestock meat. Clean meat companies argue that it is more efficient because you are only growing what is needed and leaving out eyeballs, guts, etc. Although there would be no cows producing greenhouse gases, you would still have to power the clean meat industries so it isn’t completely good for the environment.
To conclude, I think cultured meat is a great idea but it has its flaws. If scientists can perfect the growth of meat in a lab, it would be a great way to make meat in the near future and feed our population in a more sustainable matter.
Here are a few factors you may want to consider.
Firstly, the texture and taste of clean meat isn’t right, just yet. The scientists are currently working on building the cells in a way that will feel the same as the meat we are used to. They also haven’t been able to make steak because of its complex variation of muscle and fat cells. This is obviously a challenge but if they can pull it off it could be revolutionary. Until then, I probably wouldn’t want to eat mushy, tasteless meat but that’s just my preference.
Secondly, although cultured meat takes slaughtering out of the picture, it isn’t 100% animal-friendly. To supply the meat with proteins necessary for cell division, it must be given a serum which is, at the moment, the blood of tiny cows. This is not sustainable, cruelty-free or low-cost. Accoriding to Wired, "a lab-grown burger introduced in 2013 cost a cool $330,000." They have been trying to make clean meat cheaper by using less serum, but I think they should focus on developing an entirely different type of serum to use so it could be advertised as animal-friendly.
Lastly, there isn’t really proof that lab-developed meat is actually more environmentally sustainable than livestock meat. Clean meat companies argue that it is more efficient because you are only growing what is needed and leaving out eyeballs, guts, etc. Although there would be no cows producing greenhouse gases, you would still have to power the clean meat industries so it isn’t completely good for the environment.
To conclude, I think cultured meat is a great idea but it has its flaws. If scientists can perfect the growth of meat in a lab, it would be a great way to make meat in the near future and feed our population in a more sustainable matter.