Growing Meat: The Future Of Agriculture
Lab-grown meat has been referred to as the meat of the future..
And though this product has not yet been commercialized, it's been suggested that this approach is going to dramatically re-shape the market landscape for agriculture as we know it.
Many companies have now invested millions of dollars toward developing a variety of meat products, chicken, duck, beef, seafood etc, that are grown from cultured cells.
How is the meat produced?
To begin the process, stem cells are harvested from an animal in a relatively pain-free manner and from those stem cells they are able to grow the meat in layers to eventually become a product that can be eaten as a hamburger, hot dog, or steak etc.
As research in this area has advanced, the price to produce the lab-grown meat has also declined and thanks to that market experts suggest that we could see lab-grown meat become quite prevalent in the future.
It's suggested that eventually the lab meat will surpass the conventional competition, because the lab-grown meat doesn't require the same heavy land, water, and energy costs that conventional methods require.
As for right now,..
a market-ready lab-grown meat product hasn't hit the store shelves just yet. But there have been taste tests and food critics suggest that there isn't much of a difference between that which is grown from stem cells and the 'real thing'.
Widespread access to this sort of meat is still said to be years away from becoming a reality and they might have quite the marketing challenge ahead of them yet before they can get the general public ready to start eating this sort of food product. But if they plan to toss their meat products onto the shelves without any distinction about the growing method, then perhaps the transition for consumers will be easy.
Aside from the meat being created without animals being harmed, the lab-grown meat is also allegedly able to be grown free of antibiotics and pathogens, the approach is also credited with a 96 percent greenhouse gas reduction. Considering these claimed benefits, you can see here why many people might find this food production method rather appealing.
Numerous companies (like Meat Makers, Memphis Meats, Beyond Meat, and Modern Meadow) are actively researching how to grow a variety of meat products in a lab setting and this could mean millions of people eventually having their food needs met without millions of animals having to be slaughtered in the process.
These businesses hope that within just 5 years or so that we might start to see their lab-grown hot dogs, sausages, burgers, and other meat products, on shelves across the country and eventually around the world.
The move to this cruelty-free production method has been hailed as the next big trend in the agriculture market space.
In the future, we might look back on traditional factory farming models that we have now, in the same way that we look back on how we used to travel around by horse and buggy. That is how much of a difference this lab-grown meat approach might change things for the market.
Pics:
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News via washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/06/11/americans-have-never-had-so-few-options-in-deciding-what-company-makes-their-meat/?utm_term=.8c7c36ab7c1b
LiveeCo via liveeco.co.za/2013/09/02/lab-grown-beef-lacks-taste-but-could-help-save-the-world/
Jim Cooke via Gizmodo
Pixabay
Sources:
http://gizmodo.com/behind-the-hype-of-lab-grown-meat-1797383294
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/artificial-chicken-grown-cells-gets-taste-test-who-will-regulate-it
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-plant-based-food-trend-0811-biz-20170810-story.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/95109989/laboratorygrown-meat-is-coming-but-are-farmers-ready
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/lab-grown-plant-based-meat-substitutes-impossible-foods-beyond-meat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/95510619/new-zealand-farmers-up-against-the-tide-of-synthetic-meat-need-to-tell-the-natural-story
I'm going to be a vegetarian then!
eventually the price will be lower and will compete with traditional meat. I hope people will still have a choice to which meat they prefer to eat.
Im sure the day this man made meat becomes mainstream, the real beef with cost like 3x as much. I guess as long as we lessen the burden of animals being our primary source, its a good thing in the long run.
This is most likely a health scam like all the rest. All the big crony capitalist companies like Monsantos wet dream. This meat will require a lot of their shitty products to grow, and in the other end they are lobbying for the pharmasutical products when their customers are getting sick from their food. The food industry owns the pharmasutical industry. See the point?
This "meat" will most likely get cheaper than regular meet as they put more and more regulations on farmers as well as the productions processes are evolved. Regulations for animal welfare being one of them.
The animal welbeing movement are like this useful idiots for the big companies like monsanto that most of them are aware of, but unable to see the bigger picture.
The solution is to remove regulations. Let the customer choose to buy from the farmer that treats the animals best.
I'm never going to eat this chemical, malnutrition-smudge.
Even by American food standards, that is truly appalling - cancer burgers will certainly be profitable for the drug companies though...
This is awesome! I'd like to do more reading. Studies say cow farts increase methane in the atmosphere and if this meat production does not create methane in their process then this may very well be the game changer. Soon cows will be more of a pet than a domesticated animal bred for food.
That's probably the grossest thing I thought of all day :D Hectic to think about.
Interesting post!
can I just say... Eeeew! As in eeew! I don't want to eat that kind of meat! I wanna puke now. I'm sticking to organic food! No thanks for that quarter pounder. I'd rather eat plants.
Like the idea, hope the price did come down. Last time I've heard the price for lab grown pound of meat was 1/4 million Euros, so they called it "a quarter pounder" : ))
yup lol much lower now, around $11 per burger or $80 per kilogram.
Plus it will be bone free. Can't wait for it to hit the stores
Then hopefully vegies and vegans would be able to finally get some proper nutrition without crying bloody murder!
They said it was tasteless, no fat, no nothing in it :(
Most vegans still wouldn't eat that.
Can't say I am ready for this yet? May be it is safer. Just can't wrap my head around it. Good post. New info always good. 🐓🐓
thanks for taking the time to stop by :)
Same here. Anytime! 🐓🐓