Linda McCartney said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”
My great shame is a love of a good, rare steak. What do you expect from a kid out of Chicago? I can never think about where my meat comes from beyond the neatly wrapped packages in the grocery, so the new start-ups creating meat without slaughter is really exciting, a real possibility for guiltless roasts and harmless meatballs.
Memphis Meats is one of the hottest companies tackling deathless meat production. “Our goal is simple: to change the way meat gets to your plate. We’re developing a way to produce real meat from animal cells, without the need to feed, breed and slaughter actual animals.” The process is called cellular agriculture.
History of Growing Cultured Meat
In 1931, Winston Churchill famously remarked, “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.”
In 1971, Russell Ross, a pathologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, performed in vitro cultivation of muscular fibers. By 2001, NASA produced cultured meat from turkey cells and, in 2002, edible fish filets from goldfish cells.
In 2013, Mark Post at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, partnering with Mosa Meats and funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, introduced a hamburger from cultured tissue to the public. It was reported to taste pretty good. Problem was, it cost $330,000. Peter Verstrate, head of Mosa Meat, states the price has gone down to $27-$45 a pound already.
Today, Memphis Meats, bankrolled by futurists like Bill Gates and Richard Branson, is the hottest new producer of cultured proteins. Branson is quoted in Bloomberg News saying, “I believe that in 30 years or so we will no longer need to kill any animals, and all meat will be clean, cultured tissue or plant-based, taste the same and also be much healthier for everyone.”
CLEANER? HEALTHIER?
Imagine.no antibiotics necessary, no e-coli, no need for growth hormones, no absorbed pesticides or insecticides, just clean muscle fiber. According to Wikipedia, “Techniques of genetic engineering…are not required to produce cultured meat….Cultured meat is composed of a tissue or collection of tissues, not an organism. Therefore, it is not a GMO (genetically modified organism). Cultured meats are simply cells grown in a controlled, artificial environment, resembling hydroponic vegetables.
As far as health is concerned, if you are growing tissue, you can manipulate the protein content and the fat content. Fat is what makes meat tasty, so imagine how using healthy fats like Omega-3 would up health benefits for the consumer.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
To grow the lab meat, starter myoblast cells are harvested, put in a culture medium in a bioreactor and fed a protein that promotes tissue growth. The bioreactor is like a brewery where sugar feeds yeast, but in the case of cultured meat the media feeds tissue. The cells are grown on a scaffold. The Good Food Institute explains, “Scaffolding is essential for producing meat that has the ideal ratio of cell types as well as the familiar shape of conventionally produced meat—whether the goal is to produce ground beef or a chicken breast…these scaffolds serve merely as temporary supports until the cells themselves can form their own support structure.” One substrate for scaffolding I find really promising is an animal-free collagen from a Bay Area start-up called Geltor. Once the muscle tissue has grown thick enough, you can lop off a steak. The beauty is that the tissue continues to grow and can be harvested over and over.
THE FUTURE IS NOW
To me, the pioneers in this field are real heroes. Uma Valeti, cardiologist and CEO of Memphis Meats and Nicholas Genovese, stem cell biologist, CSO and co-founder of Memphis Meat, are among those on this cutting-edge technology who will create a world without slaughter. They will feed an increasingly demanding world population clean, nutrient- rich protein. They will save countless resources: It takes about 460 gallons of water to produce a quarter-pounder (https://water.usgs.gov/edu/activity-watercontent.php). The deforestation of land to produce feed includes 4,500 square miles of rainforest gone in just a year. Livestock produces 14.5 percent of our troublesome greenhouse gases. (newsweek.com, “Lab-Grown Beef will Save the Planet…,” by G. Burningham, February 28, 2016)
Believe me, I will be investing in this sector!
A KINDER WORLD SOUNDS DELICIOUS
Though identical to slaughter meat, cellular cultured meat will not harm any animal. What the ethics of this will be for vegetarians will be determined in the future. I imagine there will be many a round table on this subject, but to be able to eat guilt-free steak….? That is an appealing future. Bon slaughter-free appetite!
Vamos a ver!
Paula LaBrot is a 30-year resident of Topanga, a futurist with a special interest in the uncharted waters of cyber space.
