Lab Grown Food for Thought

Growing meat seems something of the future. Or not so long ago it did anyway. A friend of mine sent me this interesting piece written in The Guardian about lab grown meat.

The point of the article is primarily that the cultured or lab grown meat has recently been approved to be sold for the first time in Singapore. Times of the future it seems, but it looks like we have been heading in this direction for some time.

It will probably be a while before such creations are approved and being sold regularly in most other countries. It will also probably take some time before manufacturers can bring down the cost of production enough to make it affordable enough as an actual alternative to regular meat.

This news will make many ethical vegans and environmentalists very happy knowing how close we are to bringing this to market. Not having to slaughter the animals to have actual meat seems promising and definitely more ethical. Indeed, not having to breed animals for consumption will also be seen as a step in the right direction for a healthier environment.

However, this is probably my ignorance on the matter talking, but I find myself with a few thoughts. I will look into them to educate myself further on the subject, but these are questions that have occurred to me while reading this article. So I thought I would share them and maybe someone can answer me here as well.

Will it actually be considered vegan? As it uses animal cells even though they can be cultured from a living animal, will vegans accept it?

The development of this meat has been using enormous amounts of water and carbon emissions which aren’t good for the environment but with the promise that as demand rises and production is scaled up, the manufacturing process will use much less. How do we know that this would actually be the case, and if we put it all together, will it really be better for the environment in total when it’s industrialised like real meat production?

Finally, and most significant for me, what will be the nutrition content and value of this cultured lab grown meat? I know that when I eat chicken and meat, as much as I like the taste and eating it, I look at and eat it for its nutrition content as well. Will this “new” meat give me the same nutrition?

With all this said, it’s good to see innovation and forward development in any industry as things develop further into an ever more technological world. I’m asking these questions not to disregard or put a damper on these developments, but rather to actually understand them better.

Would you be willing to give up eating regular meat in place of lab-grown meat?

You can read The Guardians full article here.