"Cultured Meat" Passes the Taste Test & is a Hit in Singapore
As we reported in December, Singapore is the first nation in the world to approve the sale of "clean meat," cultured meat products. And, so far, it appears to be going well.
Illuminate: "Clean Meat" is one of the names that has been given to the process of using animal cells to grow real meat in a lab, replacing slaughter houses and reducing our carbon footprint. It sounds a bit like science fiction but it's already here and you will see clean meat [also called cultured meat] products in restaurants and grocery stores in the not so distant future. It has the potential to change the world."
Since April, Singaporeans have been able order a variety of cultured chicken dishes from Eat Just Good Meat for delivery by Foodpanda. They seem to like it quite a bit.
Triple Pundit: "Responses amongst those who have tried Good Meat have been mostly positive. Findings show that 70 percent of Singaporeans who have tried Good Meat stated that its taste was as good or better than conventional chicken, and almost 90 percent of those diners said they would substitute traditional chicken with cultured chicken."
The two things that will slow the introduction of clean meat products globally are price and regulatory approval and the two are intertwined. The price per unit will fall as production quantities increase, but quantities won't increase until national regulators clear the various cultured meant products for sale. Singapore's experience should help move the process forward.
MIT Tech Review: “We are hoping and expecting that the US, China, and the EU will pick up the gauntlet that Singapore just threw down,” says Bruce Friedrich, executive director of the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that works in meat alternatives. “Nothing is more important for the climate than a shift away from industrial animal agriculture.”
Yes, the success of cultured meat will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but there are many other benefits. The potential advantages of embracing cultured meat and abandoning the slaughterhouse meat economy are overwhelming:
1. About 70 billion animals are killed each year for food and most of us would prefer not to think about the slaughterhouses involved in getting us our beef, poultry and pork products. Perhaps in the future we can enjoy meat without the guilt.
2. Cultured meat will be created in labs/plants using a small percentage of the land that is currently utilized to raise livestock. That will free-up millions of acres for plant agriculture, homes and wild animal habitat. This benefit will be especially crucial as the world's population grows beyond 9 billion by 2050.
3. Cultured meat is produced in a sterile environment, reducing food-borne illnesses. Moreover, clean meat will be produced without the overuse of antibiotics or artificial growth hormones.
4. According to the United Nations, animal agriculture produces 15% of all greenhouse gases. The production of clean meat creates 95-96% less of the pollutants responsible for climate change.
5. The agriculture needed to produce feed for livestock involves the use of large quantities of pesticides and fertilizers which pollute our rivers and oceans, and kill marine life and coral reefs.
6. Especially in developing nations, animal agriculture is the driving force behind deforestation as ranchers clear rain-forest to raise cattle. That is the leading cause of biodiversity loss in regions like the Amazon.
As we said in December, probably no other innovation contemplated today has the potential to so positively impact the global economy, the environment, and human health.
By: Don Lam & Curated Content
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