Clean Meat- known as cultured meat or Lab grown meat that is
grown in cell culture. in vitro meat, or lab-grown meat, “clean meat” is the
term preferred by proponents because the meat is reportedly cleaner than meat
from slaughtered animals in terms of both sanitation and environmental
friendliness .The term “clean” may also refer to the conscience of the consumer
because no animals must be slaughtered to produce the meat. Instead, stem cells
are removed from an animal by a harmless biopsy and then cultivated in vitro to
form muscle fibers.
In 1932, in a collection of essays entitled Thoughts and
Adventures, British statesman Winston Churchill made a bold prediction: “Fifty
years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order
to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable
medium.” Although this idea may still seem like science fiction, in recent
years several companies have made great strides in developing lab-grown or
“clean” meat. If the technology reaches its full potential, clean meat could
help satisfy the planet’s growing demand for protein, and also provide benefits
for the environment, animal welfare, and food safety.
By 2050, worldwide meat consumption will increase by 73%,
according to a 2011 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)).
This surge is driven by the expanding world population, as well as by increased
meat consumption in developing countries. The livestock sector already consumes
about 70% of global agricultural land, divided between animal grazing and feed
crops). Thus, under the current system of livestock production, not enough land
will be available to satisfy the growing demand for meat, and meat will become
a scarce, expensive luxury item.
In March 2016, Memphis Meats, located in San Francisco,
California, USA, unveiled the first lab-grown meatball, at a cost of $18,000
USD per pound. A year later, the company rolled out samples of clean chicken
nuggets and duck à l’orange. By this time, the cost had dropped to $6,000 per
pound. The company’s target launch for consumer products is 2021, with limited
distribution to high-end restaurants in 2019. Memphis Meats recently obtained
$17 million in Series A funding from investors including Cargill and Bill
Gates. The funding will be used to reduce manufacturing costs, quadruple the
workforce, and accelerate throughput (Rousseau, O., http://tinyurl.com/GMN-Cargill,
2017).
Source- Laura Cassiday is an associate editor of Inform at
AOCS. She can be contacted at laura.cassiday@aocs.org.
