The Fight Over Lab-Grown Meat
Meat can be grown in a laboratory. It is known as “edible protein” and is grown from animal cells. It has different nutritional values from real meat. And it is also distinct from plant-based meat replacement products like those created by Beyond Meat.
Climate Food –Beer Is In Trouble
Plant-based meat sales have fallen. Some of this is due to price. In other cases, the novelty has worn off—Americans, at least, like their meat to come from animals, preferably grown by farmers.
Lab-grown meat has pitted farmers and some politicians against environmentalists who argue that animals raised for meat cause massive harm to the environment, both in terms of the food the animals consume and the methane they emit. Livestock raised for human consumption causes 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Meat And National Security
The FT recently reported that part of the debate is based on national security. Paul Shapiro, chief executive of Better Meat commented, “People in the national security field are now starting to wonder, ‘are we going to allow Asia to win the future of food technology?’” Shapiro’s comment is undermined by the fact that his company’s future is at stake as a producer of lab-grown meat. That does not mean he is wrong.
Real meat will continue to be a worsening problem as the rise in greenhouse gases makes the chance of slowing climate change less likely. It appears that, for now, farmers still don’t have any major competition. Lab-meat is tied up in politics and bureaucracy.
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