Lab-grown meat, also known as in vitro meat, is produced by cultivating animal cells in a factory-like environment, aimed at increasing yield and reducing costs compared to traditional animal farming. It can taste and have a texture similar to conventional meat, but its price and production process remain highly controversial.
According to the South China Morning Post, at the COP 27 conference, the Singaporean government treated VIP guests to lab-grown chicken. This meat had passed inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and complied with global agreements aimed at protecting biodiversity.
Proponents of lab-grown meat argue that its emergence is a solution to rising agricultural emissions, which lead to biodiversity loss and food security issues.
On the other hand, critics express concerns over high costs and legal barriers. Currently, there is no evidence that cultured meat will be widely available in the market. Therefore, it is largely exaggerated.
Lab-grown meat retains the same nutrients as conventional meat. (Photo: Kyle Jeffers).
What is Lab-Grown Meat?
Lab-grown meat or cultured meat refers to meat produced by harvesting cells from living animals. Experts then use nutrients to “feed” these cells so they can grow in a bioreactor and ultimately form a product that is edible.
For example, to create fish bubbles from the lù đù fish, scientists at Avant Meats, based in Hong Kong, place fish cells into a culture medium containing dozens of different nutrients and store them in a bioreactor attached to an oxygen tank.
The practice of cell cultivation was first applied in medical research in 1907. However, the application of this idea to meat gained attention only after a Dutch pharmacologist introduced the world’s first hamburger made from cultured cells in 2013.
Today, over 100 companies worldwide are working to create cell-based meats, from cultured lamb to oyster and even lab-grown foie gras.
However, the complexity of the cultivation process varies depending on the type of meat. Producing seafood using cells does not have the same advantages as cultivating cells from mammals. Meats derived from complex tissues and structures can be more challenging to create.
The Difference Between Cultured Meat and Plant-Based Meat
Plant-based meat is made from soy or other non-meat ingredients. In contrast, cultured meat is produced by directly cultivating animal cells and has the same nutrients as conventional beef, pork, poultry, or seafood. Generally, both types of meat continue to evolve in terms of flavor and texture.
Experts state that cultivating lab-grown meat is very expensive. (Photo: Krdo).
The next significant difference between plant-based meat and cultured meat is availability. It is estimated that plant-based meat still struggles to achieve price parity with conventional meat. It accounts for less than 1% of the global market but is available in restaurants and grocery stores worldwide.
Currently, the sale of cultured meat is only legal in Singapore, a country with 5.5 million residents that is striving to significantly reduce its dependence on imported food.
Experts indicate that scaling up the production of cultured meat from pilot stages to commercial levels requires technological advancements and massive bioreactors. This is essential for mass production, but it has yet to be realized.
Additionally, cultured meat faces numerous other barriers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration informed Upside Food, a company producing cultured meat in California, that they have no questions regarding the safety of lab-grown chicken for human consumption. However, the company still requires further approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees product market launches.
Policymakers in China, Israel, and the Netherlands support cell-based meat, but no agency has approved its commercial sale.
Furthermore, whether vegetarians can consume cultured meat is a question many people ponder. Technically, cultured meat is neither vegan nor even vegetarian since it is derived from cells of living animals.
Many vegetarians avoid meat to limit the depletion of environmental resources. For this purpose, cell-based meat could be a viable alternative.
Sonalie Figueiras, founder of the sustainable website Green Queen, states: “If you believe that taking anything from animals, even cells, is exploitation, you will not eat cultured meat. But if you focus more on reducing harm to animals, you might consider eating this meat.”
The Environmental Impact of Cultured Meat
Cultured meat plays an important role in restoring biodiversity. Farming meat from cells in bioreactors uses less land compared to traditional agriculture and avoids many emissions.
It also allows meat companies to be closer to consumers, reducing the amount of fuel needed to transport food.
However, growing meat in bioreactors requires significant amounts of electricity, especially at a large scale. According to a 2021 study by CE Delft, an environmental consulting firm in the Netherlands, this makes lab-grown pork and chicken a viable option for reducing emissions if the production process draws energy from wind, solar, and other renewable sources.
Despite the positive environmental impacts of producing cultured meat, it still faces many limitations. So far, cultured meat production is very expensive, making widespread sales, even with regulatory approval, hard to imagine in the near future.
Nearly a decade after the world’s first cultured hamburger was created at a cost of $325,000, this is the only cultured meat sold in small quantities in Singapore. The company states that it will take eight years for their products to be cost-competitive with conventional meat.
Transparency is also a contentious issue. Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the non-profit Center for Food Safety, states that cultured meat producers rarely disclose how they maintain cell growth.
Moreover, other significant challenges for cultured meat include shape, texture, and flavor.
In November 2022, at the Four Seasons resort in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, dozens of attendees at COP27 dined on grilled chicken thighs with mushroom rice, a dish made from cultured chicken from the company Eat Just.
“It looks like real ‘chicken meat,” one guest remarked.
Meanwhile, another guest commented: “I’m sure that’s not chicken. It’s too smooth.”
