Author: Derek Beres / Source: Big Think
- Tens of millions of dollars are funding projects to create a consumer-ready lab-grown burger.
- Despite the hype, experts warn that a lot more research needs to be conducted.
- Mainstream adoption of plant-based foods, however, is making lab-grown meat a welcome possibility.
Few people disagree that a better solution to factory farming needs to be implemented. Yet since the stark realities of living conditions on such farms are hidden, most people go about their lives without thinking too much about the meat they’re eating. Verbiage scrawled on packaging is not much help; terms like “free range” and “all natural” are effectively meaningless. Consumers deserve better, for health and ethical reasons, but it’s hard to define “better than what” when “what” is poorly understood.
Lab-grown meat sets off alarm bells in skeptics, yet as Paul Shapiro, author of Clean Meat, told me last year, an educational process is needed. Combine ethical decisions with biological integrity and lab-grown meat could be a clear winner. Omnivores get tasty protein while vegetarians and vegans can indulge without guilt.
There is certainly a desire for it. Mosa Meat, which has stated its products will be made available in restaurants by 2021, raised nearly $9m for its efforts; plant-based producer, Beyond Meat, has amassed $72m in investment. The Good Food Institute recently funded 14 projects with $3m in grants to companies developing lab-grown meat and plant-based protein. Another research organization, New Harvest, has invested nearly $1m to fund projects over the last decade.
Beyond animal cruelty, the resources needed for producing meat is environmentally taxing. Methane production and water usage are both staggering. The pluripotent stem cells that serve as the basis of laboratory protein could be a silver bullet addressing many problems simultaneously.
But is the hype blinding us to the science? A new article in Nature states we might be.
Tasting the World’s First Test-Tube Steak
According to the article, some projects are falling by the wayside as well. While the Dutch government agreed to contribute $2.3m for research, legislators ended up focusing their efforts on plant-based proteins. This is unfortunate, given the additives used in many…
The post Lack of basic research hiding behind ‘clean meat’ hype appeared first on FeedBox.