Overpopulation has been a big problem for food production for a long time, and with a current world population of 7.2 billion, which is predicted to rise to 9.6 million by 2050, it seems that Armageddon could be caused by the sheer rise in the world population. So how can we keep feeding all these people?
Scientists from around the world have been racing to be the first successful creators of lab grown meat. By mid-2013 a Dutch team had created the first in-vitro beef burger to be tested. There is, however, a long way to go before we see lab-grown burgers in our supermarkets, one glaring challenge being the expensive process of manufacturing these burgers, costing around a £250,000. The acclaimed ‘Frankenburger’ was first tasted in August and the result was a success. One of the tasters stated “It’s not that juicy, but the consistency is perfect. This is meat to me…”. Although there are some who remain skeptical.
The burger is made through multiplying stem cells from cattle, and then stitching these strands of protein together. The cultured meat is then combined with flavourings such as eggs and breadcrumbs and natural colourings to match the conventional burger.
The concept of in-vitro meat is not new. In fact, Winston Churchill wrote in 1932 that
This is definitely not the first concept of food replacement. We have previously tried to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners. There are sliced or canned cheese that are full of emulsifiers, fillers and oils, to replace real cheese, and butter replacements such as ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’, and many other food substitutes. But this meat replacement is supposed to solve the dilemma of the space and food needed to feed the animals that in turn feed us.
There are several views on the reality of eating and making in-vitro meat:
The Green aspect
According to the report World Agriculture towards 2015/2030 published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, livestock has a “profound effect on the wider environment” causing up to 14% of global emissions, this is projected to grow considerably over the next decade with the increasing demand for meat.
Researchers at Oxford University stated that the in-vitro meat process will cut up to 90% of the greenhouse gases produced, use 60% less energy and require 98% less land than conventional meat production using animals and farms. From an environmentalist view, lab-grown produce has the least amount of impact compared to almost all other forms of meat production.
Animal Cruelty
This meat is purely made with artificial muscle fibres which means that there is potential for a huge decrease in animal cruelty caused by mass production of meat. Battery farming and slaughterhouses could decrease exponentially. A debate on who could and would eat these test-tube patties has begun. It stands to reason that most animal sympathisers and vegetarians do not eat meat because they disagree with the process of killing a rearing animals for consumption purposes, but when the element of life and also pain is taken out of the meat making method, the end product would present these people with a source of meat that is ethically justifiable for them to eat. It is a step forward in preventing unnecessary animal violence.
The American animal rights organisation PETA announced in 2008 that it will award a one million dollar prize for the first commercially viable in-vitro chicken meat, which has triggered great interest among researchers. Although more headway has been made in in-vitro beef production, PETA is more concerned in replacing battery chicken factories, and so has extended the deadline to March 2014 giving further incentive to the 30 teams around the world who are already in the in-vitro meat race.
International
Because of the technical skill required, if in-vitro meat does become mass-produced, it could lead to larger inequality in hunger around the world. Even now before cultured meat becomes available to all who can afford it, the inequality in hunger is huge, and in-vitro meat will increase this gap even further. Professor Tara Garnett, head of the Food Policy Research Network at Oxford University, echoes my sentiments exactly:
Production
There are several obstacles that must be overcome before the first lab grown meat products can be seen on supermarket shelves, such as finding cheaper methods for mass-production, speeding up the meat-growing process and, overcoming the product’s artificiality and the way the media will convey this type of meat to the public. But even if it fails to receive substantial demand if and when it comes to supermarkets, it is a truly exciting concept.
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