He Who Controls the Food, Controls the People
Lab-grown meat: How it's made, sustainability and nutrition
Lab-grown meat is a genetically engineered product that uses biotechnology. But is it healthier than meat reared from livestock?
Soon, Americans are going to be able to try chicken that comes directly from chicken cells rather than, well, a chicken.
On Wednesday, the USDA gave Upside Foods and Good Meat the green light to start producing and selling their lab-grown, or cultivated, chicken products in the United States.
Don’t run to the supermarket just yet, though. It’s going to be a while before you can buy cell-based meat in stores, though you should be able to get a taste at a restaurant sooner.
Here’s everything you need to know about lab-grown meat.
What is it?
In a nutshell, lab-grown meat — or cultivated or cell-based meat — is meat that is developed from animal cells and grown, with the help of nutrients like amino acids, in massive bioreactors.
This happens in a production facility that looks a lot like a brewery: When you picture it, don’t think of people in white coats and hairnets peering through microscopes into petri dishes, but instead people in white coats and hairnets wandering between giant vats.
When the meat is ready, companies collect it from the bioreactors and move it along the processing line.
Good Meat’s protein “looks a lot like a minced chicken,” when extracted, said Andrew Noyes, head of global communications and public affairs at Good Meat parent company Eat Just.
Upside Foods explains that cells it gathers from a fertilized chicken egg are stored in its cell bank and can be used for at least ten years. Animal cells can come from animal biopsies or even feathers, among other sources, Noyes said.
There are environmental considerations, as well. Agriculture, particularly animal agriculture, is responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. Overhauling that system could ease the burden on the planet.
To make cultivated meat, “energy use needs are high,” said Bruce Friedrich, president and founder of the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit group that promotes alternative proteins. Still, those energy needs will be offset by the reduction in land and water use and other benefits, he said, adding that “renewable energy is how we reap the maximum climate benefit.”
If cultured meat is produced at scale, it could also offer a solution to feeding the world’s growing population.
Am I eating foods that come from GMO crops?
It is very likely you are eating foods and food products that are made with ingredients that come from GMO crops. Many GMO crops are used to make ingredients that Americans eat such as cornstarch, corn syrup, corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, or granulated sugar. A few fresh fruit and vegetables are available in GMO varieties, including potatoes, summer squash, apples, papayas, and pink pineapples.
Chances are too, that the seeds you buy to grow your own, may even have been genetically modified in ways of crossed varieties for the desired hardiness and growth sustainability.
Although GMOs are in a lot of the foods we eat, most of the GMO crops grown in the United States are used for animal food. And yes, I know what you might be thinking about now.
That you are what you eat.
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