The majority of people around the world are meat lovers, and that sets us back around 50 million chicken per year. According to scientific studies, the amount of meat we consume is staggering and concerning. It also has a detrimental impact on the planet, pushing many people to switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet.
However, that’s not a solution since meat loves won’t put away their favorite food just like that. Science has been looking for a solution to this problem for quite some time, and finally came up with one – lab-grown meat.
Credits to: theheartysoul.com
What the Heck is Lab-Grown Meat?
The name says it all. Lab-grown meat is artificial meat produced in labs that also goes by the name of cultured or in-vitro meat. Many refer to it as cellular agriculture. It doesn’t come from animals, of course. It’s a simplified process that involves extracting stem cells from animals, then growing them for consumption.
Sorry, vegetarians and vegans – the process is not vegan since you still need an animal to complete it. On the other hand, you’re not killing one – you’re just getting its stem cells. It’s a harmless process of eating meat without killing. Exactly what the vegetarian community wants.
Now for the big question – is it really a no-kill procedure? Unfortunate, it isn’t. To grow the meat, scientists use foetal bovine serums, which is obtained from deceased cows. This is a liquid fraction of clotted blood from foetal calves. It sounds disgusting and it probably looks disgusting too. However, it contains a significant portion of nutritional factors that help the lab-grown meat to grow.
FBS can only be extracted from a pregnant cow during slaughter. This is an ethical dilemma for many, which means that lab-grown meat still requires dead animals.
Approved for Sale
A few weeks back, the first lab-grown meat was finally approved for sale. Many companies have been producing it for some time, but so far, none had the license to sell it. A US company named Just Eat made lab-grown chicken bites that have passed the checks by the Singapore Food Agency. The lab-grown meat came from a cell bank which didn’t require killing animals.
At the moment, only a small supply of these chicken bites exists. To try them, you’ll have to go to a restaurant in Singapore, the only one of its kind, where they are served.
Is It Environmentally-Friendly?
Many people wonder if the lab-grown meat is eco-friendly. However, since it has a small production volume right now, it produces a lot of carbon emissions. Manufacturers are adamant to increase the production volume too and reduce their carbon footprint. The approval in Singapore has opened the door for more produces to jump on the bandwagon.
Of course, there are still challenges, both legal and otherwise, ahead of lab-grown meat before we can put it on our tables. First and foremost, it may not taste like the real thing. Scaling up production and approval in the West remain obstacles. We eat a lot of meat every year, and small scale production like lab-grown meat won’t be able to cover that amount.
It is, however, the possible future of meat. The Just Eat approval in Singapore is the first step towards it, and we hope the no-killing product reaches our stores soon.
