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What is Clean Meat?
June 25, 2019
Future of Tech
The Summary:
Clean (or Cultured) meat is meat grown by cell culture rather than grown by an animal. From a scientific perspective, it's awe-inspiring. Lab grown or clean meat is slaughter free and potentially more eco-friendly because it uses less land, water, and energy (at least that's the goal).
Growing meat cells efficiently and that taste as good as possible
Producing the meat with the same structure, look and feel of traditional meat
The latter is proving to be a bigger challenge especially when it comes down to public perception and the so-called uncanny valley effect (the discomfort that comes from objects that appear to be something but isn’t exactly the same). So although you won’t be seeing clean meat in stores any time soon, it may become a staple in five to ten years time.
The Promise:
The United Nations state that animal agriculture is "one of the major causes of the world's most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity." Currently, humans consume around 300 million tonnes of meat a year. The human population is expected to reach 11 billion by the end of the century and there is a huge uptake of meat consumption in developing countries. At the rate we’re going, animal agriculture is unsustainable and environmentally harmful.
From a global perspective, clean meat could help feed our growing population in a sustainable and more ethical way, require less land and minimizing the environmental devastation associated with traditional farming (such as deforestation and pollutants).
We’ll have full control over what goes into our food. That means we can produce food without dangerous microplastics, mercury and we minise the risk of antibiotic resistance. It could be the dawn of healthier meat production and without the animal cruelty.
The Breakdown:
The process:
Technicians take a small amount of tissue from an animal
They filter and isolate cells that they can grow
They provide the cells with heat, oxygen and a serum consisting of salts, sugars, and proteins in a controlled environment (a very expensive process that essentially tricks the cells into thinking that they're still inside their owner)
The cells then naturally replicate as they would normally inside the body, producing something similar to this:
While we’ve been able to grow muscle, fat, and connective tissue from cells it’s a much bigger challenge to build them in a way that replicates the meat we’re used to. Like a steak for example, there's different types of muscle cells, connective tissue, bone, pockets that aggregate and lipids/fat that all influence the texture, taste, aroma, appearance and functionality a piece of meat.
We're really far away from being able to create this matrix of different types of cells at an intricate level which is why we currently end up with something that looks closer to minced meat than sirloin.
In order for clean meat to gain major traction it realistically comes down to whether consumers are willing to buy it. I believe price and taste are going to be the major determinants, both of which are going to take time to develop. It currently costs thousands of dollars to produce a single meat patty but the price is rapidly dropping thanks to advancements in the tech.
Clean meat will be competing against its traditional alternative and the ever-expanding meat substitute industry. As long as it’s affordable and tastes/feels right, I think clean meat could disrupt the market. If it’s too expensive or can’t overcome the intrinsic ick factor, then clean meat will be fighting an uphill battle.
Arco’s rating: 8/10
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