Most laboratory methods for growing meat use animal cells obtained from blood serum. In the bioreactor, muscles are formed from cells, which become the basis of meat. However, the cost of such technology did not allow introducing artificial meat to the market and scaling up production.
In 2013, biologist Mark Post from the University of Maastricht created the world's first burger made from meat grown in vitro. The production of the product cost $325,000. The development of technology has reduced this price many times, and today a kilogram of artificial meat already costs $80, and one burger costs $11. Thus, in four years the price has decreased by almost 30,000 times. However, scientists still have work to do. As of November 2016, a pound of ground beef cost $3.60, which is almost 10 times cheaper than test tube meat. However, scientists and meat startups believe that artificial meatballs and hamburgers will be sold in stores at a reasonable price.
Israeli startup SuperMeat cultivates kosher chicken liver, American company Clara Foods synthesizes egg whites, and Perfect Day Foods creates non-animal dairy products. Finally, the company of the creator of the first burger with artificial meat, Mark Post, Mosa Meat, promises to begin selling laboratory beef in the next 4-5 years.
Commercial livestock farming causes great harm to the environment. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it takes 2,500 liters of water to produce one hamburger, and cows are considered a major source of methane, which contributes to the greenhouse effect. Lab-grown meat, even using animal cells, will significantly reduce the environmental impact. One turkey can produce enough cells to produce 20 trillion chicken nuggets.
Hanna Tuomisto, an agroecologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, estimates that producing beef in vitro would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% and land use by 99%. Carolyn Mattick from the University of Arizona, on the contrary, believes that artificial production will cause greater harm to the environment. According to her calculations, creating chicken meat in laboratories with all the necessary nutrients will require more energy than raising chickens.
Lab-grown meat will begin serving in California restaurants this year. By 2020, it will become cheaper than usual, and large fast food chains will begin to switch to it, and then it will come to supermarkets. This was announced by JUST, one of the leading developers of “test tube meat”. Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Richard Branson and many other technology investors are counting on this.
Appetizing?
In 2008, producing a piece of beef weighing 250 grams in a laboratory cost $1 million. In 2013, a burger grown in London for the sake of an experiment cost $325 thousand. Now its price has dropped to $11. In the next few years, artificial meat is guaranteed to become cheaper than natural meat. Why do we need this, how scientists grow “Meat 2.0”, what it tastes like and why this technology will change our world.
What's wrong with today's meat?
Pork, beef, chicken. Tasty and natural products that we are used to. But, unfortunately, this cannot continue for long.
The first and main reason is global warming. One cow “releases” from 70 to 120 kg of methane per year. Methane is one of the greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2). But him Negative influence the climate is 23 times stronger. That is, 100 kg of methane from a cow is the equivalent of 2300 kg of carbon dioxide. This is approximately 1000 liters of gasoline. With a car that consumes 8 liters per 100 km, you can drive 12,500 km every year, and only then will you have the same impact on the climate as one cow quietly chewing grass on a farm. In addition, there are many more cows and bulls in the world than cars. Latest estimates: 1.5 billion versus 1.2 billion.
Of course, in total, transport in the world contributes to global warming more than peaceful heifers. One container ship or a cruise ship“floats” like 80-150 thousand cars. But the influence of livestock cannot be underestimated. For every 1 kg of beef in a store, the equivalent of 35 kg of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. A kilogram of pork – 6.35 kg CO2, a kilogram of chicken – 4.57 kg CO2. It is now estimated that 18% of emissions that contribute to global warming come from pets. No matter how many factories switch to solar energy, no matter how many electric vehicles Elon Musk produces, this factor remains with us.
The problem is that humanity continues to grow. Scientists estimate that by 2050 there will be 9.6 billion of us. Urbanization and the growth of the middle class will lead to additional increase demand for meat. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the world will have to produce 70% more food. And they say that with current technology this is simply impossible.
How much meat (and eggs) were consumed in 2005, and how much will be consumed in 2050
One of those who holds this opinion is Bill Gates. According to him, if there are more than 9 billion of us, it will simply not be possible to feed all people with natural meat. Over the past few years, he has invested in a dozen startups that grow meat in labs. Richard Branson and billionaires from Hong Kong, China and India followed suit. In a post on his personal blog about the future of food in 2013, Gates wrote:
Raising animals for meat requires a lot of land and water, and seriously harms our planet. To put it bluntly, we do not have the capacity to feed more than nine billion people. And at the same time, we cannot ask everyone to become a vegetarian. Therefore, we must find options for producing meat without depleting our resources.
The second reason (partially touched upon by Bill Gates) is that farms and pastures for animals take up a lot of space on the planet. So many. 30% of the entire dry surface of the Earth is now allocated for keeping livestock. Often these are pastures on the site of former forests. About 70% of the former Amazon forests have now been cleared for grazing. And 33% of all arable land grows feed for livestock. There is less and less space for people and nature.
The third reason is that it is also unprofitable. Meat production is a wildly inefficient process. To make 1 kg of beef, you need to spend more than 38 kg of feed and almost 4 thousand liters of water (including watering corn and soybeans). Cows consume 20 times more food than is needed to eliminate global hunger. And if there are 9.6 billion of us, there won’t be enough water to produce meat (there is, of course, the option of desalination, but these are additional costs and other problems).
Lab-grown meat already requires 100 times less land and 5.5 times less water than natural meat, despite the fact that the technology has not yet been perfected. According to the latest estimates by scientists from Oxford, if we can switch to it, it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock by 78-96%, reduce energy consumption by 7-45% and save 82%-96% of fresh water (such strong variations connected with different types meat).
The fourth reason to switch to “test tube meat” is, of course, to reduce the number of killings and suffering of animals. To some this factor seems meaningless, but to others it is the most important. The animal rights organization (PETA) is putting its money into nugget and steak technology. In 2014, it offered a $1 million reward to the first scientist to bring lab-grown chicken to market:
We believe this is an important first step in bringing sustainable, humanely produced real meat into the hands and mouths of those people who insist on eating animal flesh.
How to make meat in vitro
In fact, of course, cultured or “pure” meat (as they are now trying to brand it in the West) is grown not in a test tube, but in a Petri dish or a special container. There are dozens of companies with their own approaches, but in general the process is divided into three stages:
1. First, cells that are prone to rapid reproduction are collected. These may be embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, myosatellite cells or myoblasts. At this point, scientists need an animal (or perfectly preserved cells, but they haven't gotten to that point yet).
2. The cells are processed by adding proteins that promote tissue growth. Then they are placed in a culture medium, in a bioreactor. It acts as blood vessels, supplying cells with everything they need and giving them conditions for growth. The main nutrient element of the cells is the blood plasma of the animal (most often the embryo). A mixture of sugars, amino acids, vitamins and minerals is added to it. In order for muscle tissue to develop correctly, it is grown under pressure, simulating natural conditions. Heat and oxygen are also supplied to the bioreactor. Essentially, the cells are not even aware that they are growing outside the animal.
3. To make meat three-dimensional rather than flat, laboratories use a kind of “scaffolding.” Ideally, they should also be edible, and periodically move, stretching the developing muscle tissue, imitating the movements of a real body. So far they are not concentrating on this stage, but everyone agrees that without it the creation of any believable meat is impossible. Neither the consistency nor the texture of the mass, which quietly developed in a Petri dish, will deceive the modern eater.
As we see, it is not yet possible to completely free animals from work. Both the first and second stages still require elements from a real body. But theoretically, it will soon be possible to do without it. Stem cells should be cloned or grown separately, and a substitute for blood plasma should be found. Scientists say that under ideal conditions, in two months of growing cultured meat, 50,000 tons of product can be obtained from 10 pig cells.
But those who call this meat “clean” are slightly disingenuous. Growing it requires preservatives like sodium benzoate to protect the meat from fungus. Also on different stages Collagen powder, xanthan, mannitol and so on are used. If you're worried that "farm animals are fed antibiotics and all kinds of chemicals," your fears will intensify with the arrival of meat from laboratories.
However, according to the development companies, cultured meat has one advantage over the natural product. It may be beneficial for your waist. With some meat products, like steaks, fat is an important part of the texture and flavor. Firms that “grow” muscle cells can control what type of fat grows with their meat. They can only be allowed to develop healthy fats, like unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, which improve heart function and speed up metabolism.
First target - foie gras
There is one food whose price is easy to compete with. The liver of an overfed goose or duck is one of the most expensive types of meat. At $50 per pound, over $110 per kg! With such a price, a “test tube” product already seems like a profitable alternative. Growing goose or duck liver in the laboratory is no more difficult than chicken nuggets, and the profit is much greater.
Experiments with foie gras are currently being conducted by JUST (formerly Hampton Creek). The goal is to begin supplying it to American restaurants this year. The company has experience launching successful products on the market. Her portfolio includes egg-free mayonnaise and chocolate chips, popular among vegans.
Animal rights activists have long campaigned against the methods by which foie gras is made. Farmed geese and ducks have a tube of food forced down their throats and fed until they can no longer walk. Their metabolic process is disrupted, and the liver, trying to process it all, swells 10 times its normal size.
Feeding at a foie gras farm
The Internet is full of videos from activists who broke into American farms and secretly filmed the condition of the animals there. The footage of a rat eating a live goose from behind, because it is unable to defend itself, caused a particular stir (I don’t want to go into details; those who want to go deeper into the topic can still find the video on YouTube). After the scandal erupted, California banned the production and sale of foie gras on its territory. For local lovers of the delicacy, laboratory foie gras will be a chance to legally buy the product without crossing state lines. And supporters of the humane treatment of animals will be able to sleep peacefully. The JUST team only needs one donor goose, and they definitely don't let rats near it.
There is only one, tiny problem. Gourmets who are willing to pay any money for their foie gras are almost impossible to convince. They have a keen eye for taste (or at least they think so) and don't want to compromise. It's easier for them to go to the black market or spend half a day going to buy their favorite liver. And the fact that laboratory meat saves them a couple of hundred dollars is not a factor at all. JUST, MosaMeat and other laboratories say that they really have little hope for these customers. It is more important for them that every new customer who decides to try foie gras first goes to buy their product.
Foie gras from the laboratory
The main difficulty is that the product from laboratories must be exactly like the meat we are used to. Peter Verstate, CEO of MosaMeat, speaks about this:
When they taste the product, they should be under the impression that it is meat. Not “it looks like mint” or “it looks like meat”, it just has to be meat. This is the main difficulty.
Roughly speaking, the “uncanny valley” effect is at work here. You know how in movies or games it's easier to accept something completely new, or something obviously fake, than a beautiful human CGI that's 99% done? We have become very good at distinguishing this 1% because we encounter people's faces every day. An attempt to accurately reflect real person can achieve the opposite effect - it will seem to us that this is some kind of scary robot or alien wearing human skin.
It’s the same story with artificial meat. Roughly speaking, if a taste is completely unfamiliar to you, the brain says, “Oh, this is something new.” And if the taste is similar to 99%, but there is some difference, the brain has a different reaction - “I know what it is, but there is something wrong with it.” A signal is being sent to us - poison, poison! It doesn’t taste good, you want to spit it out, some may even feel sick. And if your food makes some people sick, that's a big problem.
Lab meat
The developers of bioreactor meat are now fighting for the last 1% of “similarity.” The main problem is the texture. Meat that has grown on the bone has muscle and fat in a specific consistency that is very difficult to replicate. Therefore, a fully grown steak is still several years away. But burgers and nuggets are already being made, and there are no special complaints about their taste
There's still a long way to go
In May 2013, the first burger made from cultured meat was made in London. It consisted of 20,000 thin strips of muscle tissue and cost $325 thousand, which came from an anonymous philanthropist (later it turned out that it was Sergey Brin). After trying the burger, culinary expert Hanni Rutzler gave her assessment:
He has a very strong taste, even at the place of frying. I know there's no fat and it's not as juicy as I'd like, but the flavor is very intense and hits the taste buds. If we were judging the taste blindly, I'd say this product is closer to meat than its soy counterpart.
Developments in 2018 taste even more like natural meat. And their price is much more reasonable - from $11.36 per kg (some companies still put price tags of $1000-$2400, but their prices are also going down quickly). Paul Shapiro, author of the bestselling book Clean Meat: How Farming Animal-Free Meat Will Revolutionize Dining and the World, tried the latest lab-made versions of beef, chicken, fish, duck, foie gras and chorizo (Spanish pork sausage). According to him,
They taste exactly like meat, because that is meat.
But not everyone has such progressive views yet. In a 2014 study, 80% of Americans said they would not eat lab-grown meat. In 2017, only 30% said they were open to including such meat in their diet, and sometimes eating it instead of traditional meat. Among those who are against all these “mad scientist experiments”, the product even has a nickname. It is pejoratively called "Franken meat".
The American company Impossible Foods announced the opening of its own plant in California, where about 454 tons of “non-meat” beef will be produced annually. Artificial meat from Impossible Foods is a blend of wheat, potatoes, coconut oil and a substance called heme, which contains more iron than high-quality beef.
CEO Patrick Brown spoke about the company's plans for the next few years to produce 250 times annually more product, than now. Animal-free burgers will be regularly supplied to 1,000 US restaurants. Since the taste of plant-based artificial meat is as close to natural as possible, and its composition is very healthy, Impossible Foods expects demand not only among vegetarians, but also among ordinary meat-eaters who care about their health.
Bill Gates himself invested $182 million in the development of Impossible Foods; at the launch stage, the project was also supported by Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures. The first cutlet from this manufacturer appeared in the Momofuku Nishi restaurant last year. The novelty caused a real sensation among fast food lovers, attracted considerable queues and gained popularity both for the restaurant and its owner David Chang.
Non-plant faux meat
The amount of beef, pork, and chicken consumed annually in developed countries today worries not only vegetarians. Environmentalists warn about the danger. After all, in order to produce one burger, it is necessary to spend 2,500 tons of water and a considerable amount of electricity. For the sake of livestock farming, wildlife has to be sacrificed, and waste from this industry leads to a decrease in soil fertility and the release of methane, which is harmful to humans. Environmentalists blame livestock farmers for 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
The environmental situation encourages scientific laboratories to different countries world to develop alternative nutritional and useful product. Not only plant material is used as a basis. Thus, the American company Memphis Meats created chicken and duck fillets in laboratory conditions based on serum cells from chicken embryos, and the Israeli company SuperMeat introduced the world to kosher chicken liver.
Faux meat: from $325 thousand to $11
The first test tube burger was tasted at a press conference in 2013 in London. Its creator was the Dutch biologist Mark Post. He is the author of the technology for growing cow muscle tissue from stem cells. An ordinary-looking cutlet, for which artificial meat was grown in the laboratory, then cost about 325 thousand dollars. After 4 years, the scientist said that the price of a kilogram of new raw materials is $80, and one burger now costs $11.
$80 is still a high price compared to the average cost of natural minced meat, for example, in the USA - $3.6. Therefore, even if test tube beef in the form of cutlets appears in restaurants right now, it is unlikely to be in mass demand. However, Mark Post and his company Mosa Meat promise to further reduce the price of the new product. According to their forecasts, in five years, faux meat in the form of beef tenderloin will cost no more than $7. And given the existence of competition in the form of healthy plant-based burgers, it is simply necessary to fight to reduce prices.
How artificial meat is made and why it becomes cheaper
The sharp reduction in price of the innovative product is due to the way artificial meat is made. Mark Post himself described the process of making laboratory beef. The raw material is a special type of stem cells responsible for the restoration of muscle tissue. These cells are taken from the neck of the cow. In order for the particles to divide and, accordingly, muscle tissue to grow, a protein environment is necessary, so the stem raw material is placed in a container with fetal calf serum.
No matter how scientists tried to get around the problem of exterminating animals, fetal serum can only be obtained from the blood of a killed calf. Currently, new technology is being actively developed that makes it possible to use an alternative, synthetic substance as a medium for the growth of stem material.
However, there is a significant advantage of this process of growing muscle tissue - animal cells are needed only once. Theoretically, one “fence” is enough to grow an indefinite amount of product. True, other types of particles need to be grown in parallel, and in order to muscle mass physically developed correctly, it needs to be constantly stretched and structured.
What is the benefit
Regardless of how artificial meat is made - by growing tissue from stem particles or by combining plant raw materials - the result is clearly devoid of the disadvantages of its natural counterpart. There is no reason to worry about the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria and contamination, or the presence of antibiotics, pesticides and other substances harmful to humans in the product.
Incredible facts
Dutch scientists have used stem cells to create muscle fibers to produce the world's first lab-grown hamburger. The study is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. Scientists want to develop more effective ways meat production, without raising animals on farms.
At a meeting in Canada, Professor Mark Post reported that cultured meat could reduce harmful emissions into the environment by 60 percent compared to modern livestock production.
Professor Post's team from University of Maastricht, Holland, grew small pieces of muscle 2 centimeters long, 1 centimeter wide and 1 millimeter thick. They are white in color and similar in appearance to squid meat. The fiber will be mixed with blood and artificially grown fat to create a complete artificial hamburger by the fall.
The cost of such a hamburger ultimately amounted to 200 thousand pounds sterling, but Professor Post said that as soon as the principle of growing meat in artificial conditions will be demonstrated, production techniques can be improved, and the price of such a product will drop significantly.
Post said that once the experiment is completed, he will ask the celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal make a hamburger from this meat. At first, this meat will be tasteless, but scientists still need to work on its taste.
Scientists reported that the reason for creating the first artificial meat was not to show a viable product, but to show that it was possible to create it. They still have a lot of work to do to make the process of creating such products efficient and cheap.
Why did they need to use such complex methods to create meat when the livestock industry provides natural product for many thousands of years? The main reason is that most food scientists believe that current methods are not environmentally friendly.
According to some estimates, food production will double in 50 years to meet the needs of a growing population. During this period, climate change, fresh water shortages and urban growth will make it increasingly difficult to produce food.
Scientists believe that meeting the need for meat in Asia and Africa will be especially difficult, since the demand for these products will increase as living standards in these regions rise. They are confident that meat created in a laboratory will be an excellent solution.
"This will reduce the shortage of land resources, - said the scientists. – Anything that can stop the agricultural sector from taking over wild areas will be great. We have already reached a critical point in the use of arable land."
Producing meat in a laboratory will ultimately become more efficient than conventional meat production, says Professor Post. Currently, 100 grams of plant protein fed to pigs and cows yields only 15 grams of animal protein, meaning the efficiency is only 15 percent. Scientists believe that synthetic meat can be produced with 50 percent efficiency, given the equivalent energy resources.
But what will the faux burger taste like?
"In the beginning this meat will be tasteless, Post said. – We need to isolate the components that give meat its distinctive flavor and analyze the fiber composition to make changes accordingly."
Professor Post also reported that new technology will reduce the number of animals that are kept on farms and then killed. Of course, the same numbers could be achieved if people began to eat less meat, but this is not yet possible. Scientists are also concerned that very unhealthy levels of antibiotics and antifungal chemicals will be needed to keep the synthetic meats well stored.
Before humanity had time to taste real space food in tubes - the dream of every child who wants to become an astronaut, scientists were shocked with new news: soon there will not be a single vegetarian left on Earth. Thanks to the latest developments of great minds, soon we will not have to kill animals for a piece of meat, the world will be free from hunger. While artificial meat is growing in test tubes, you can try it, which is sold in many stores. We will tell the history of human developments - food in tubes and meat grown in vitro - in today's article.
Evolution of the tube
Today it is associated with the tube, and many children, squeezing it onto the brush toothpaste, imagine themselves as conquerors of the boundless space surrounding all the planets. It is in tubes that you can buy borscht or a main course in order to arrange a themed space dinner for your family in the evening, but real cosmonauts have almost forgotten about aluminum tubes and now eat food packaged in vacuum “dishes”, tin cans.
The first tubes for storing food were invented in Estonia, where since 1964 any housewife could purchase berry jelly in such a package, and the family could easily apply the delicacy to a bun. It turned out that the standards of the tubes manufactured by the Baltic Chemical Plant fully complied not only with the standards of this country, but also with space standards. That is why Estonia has become the largest contractor producing food packaging for space explorers.
The neck of the tube was too narrow, which did not allow the astronauts to eat comfortably, since pieces of food simply got stuck in it, and in 1970 the Tiraspol plant was able to “adjust” the neck to a more convenient size, expanding it by 2 millimeters, which turned out to be quite enough for space food to become more homemade, with pieces of meat and vegetables.
In 1982, scientists again slightly modified the packaging for space food. began to be placed in special bags, into which it was poured before use hot water to keep the food warm.
Why can't you eat hamburgers in space?
The first people to try to eat differently in space than representatives of other countries were astronauts from the United States. Initially, the diet was represented by dried products, which were filled with water before consumption. This diet did not suit everyone, and space explorers secretly brought normal food onto the ship. So many people remember the incident that happened with astronaut John Young, who brought a real sandwich on board. In conditions of weightlessness, it turned out to be impossible to eat this dish; the bun scattered in small crumbs throughout the ship, and throughout the rest of the flight, the crew’s life turned into a real nightmare.
By the eighties, food in tubes had become the only option for adequate nutrition for astronauts, and had more than three hundred dishes on its menu. Today it is not so extensive; the number of dishes offered has almost halved.
What do Russian cosmonauts eat today?
Nowadays, food in tubes has almost completely lost its relevance. The dishes are packed in special vacuum packaging, and the food is freeze-dried before packaging. In this form, it is easier to preserve all the microelements and vitamins necessary for the body, the taste of freshly prepared food, its original appearance, and such products are stored at any temperature for up to five years. The diet of Russian space explorers includes borscht, mushroom soup, solyanka, rice with stewed vegetables, Greek salad and green bean salad, beef tongue, poultry, beef and pork, entrecotes, omelette with chicken liver, bread that cannot crumble, cottage cheese , and many other dishes. By the way, only Russian scientists were able to adapt cottage cheese to a long stay in space, and our cosmonauts are happy to share this product with their foreign colleagues.
It is worth noting that the state daily meals one cosmonaut costs 20 thousand rubles. This price does not depend on the products and packaging technology; the high cost of food is justified by the delivery of products on board, which costs 7 thousand dollars per kilogram of cargo.
Nutrition for American astronauts
Unlike Russian cosmonauts, who do not have microwave ovens on board and can boast of having one necessary equipment. Thanks to this, their diet is more varied. They can afford semi-finished products. Otherwise, the dishes are similar, just like Russians, American colleagues eat freeze-dried foods. The specific nutrition of US astronauts is a large number of citrus fruits, while our guys prefer grapes and apples.
Other countries
Even in space, the Japanese cannot do without traditional sushi, various varieties of green tea, noodle soup and soy sauce.
Chinese astronauts eat food closer to what we are used to. Their diet is based on rice, pork and chicken.
The French can boast of the most exotic dishes. They always have mushrooms, truffles, and cheese on board. There was a case when a French astronaut was refused to bring blue cheese onto the ship. Scientists were afraid that this fungus could affect the entire biological situation on the orbital station.
The future of space lies in artificial meat
Meat from a test tube, vegetables and fruits grown in a garden on a spaceship - this is the future of space exploration. Scientists have been working for many years to create a ship capable of transporting astronauts to Mars, a long journey of several years.
But the ship is not the only problem; scientists are also working on creating a real garden where astronauts can grow vegetables. For several years, tests have been underway to grow artificial meat, which astronauts will also be able to grow on their own to ensure complete nutrition. This product will become the future not only of the space industry, but of all humanity.
Meat without meat
Scientists have learned to create artificial meat, and this news pleased most people. We are predators by nature, and the body simply needs meat and the substances it contains to function normally. Many people have become vegetarians because of their great love for animals, some because of an illness that does not allow them to eat such food, and others simply cannot afford to eat meat dishes every day, since the budget is small.
All these problems are already being solved, and soon every inhabitant of the planet will be a meat eater, because during the production of the product not a single animal will be harmed, it will be practically harmless, since absolutely all aspects are taken into account when growing meat in vitro.
Who needs this?
Some will ask: "Why all this trouble? We've bred real grunts, moos and cackles throughout history, why not continue?" The thing is that humanity is growing at an incredible speed, there simply won’t be enough meat for everyone soon, and in some countries people are already truly starving, since this product is too expensive.
In addition to the fight against hunger, the problem of maintaining slaughterhouses, which prevent animal defenders from sleeping well at night, will no longer be a problem. Not a single cute creature will ever give up its life to feed a person.
In addition to animals, the cultivation of artificial meat will save many hectares of land, which will be used to build housing for people, rather than farms. We will also be able to preserve the environment, which, with global warming, hints that it is time to reduce the flow of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Artificial meat consumes 40% less energy, 98% less land is needed to grow it, there will be 95% less greenhouse gas and methane emitted, which lead to global warming, and the consumption of clean water will be significantly reduced.
By 2050, cultured artificial meat will be available to every person, it will be several times cheaper than real meat, and its quantity will satisfy the food needs of all humanity.
History of test tube meat
Winston Churchill said that one day we will raise one chicken to eat only breasts every day, and the bird itself will remain alive, once giving away several cells that will grow in a separate environment. The great president's prophecy began to come true in 2000, when scientists presented the result of their experiment, growing a small piece of meat from cells taken from a goldfish.
In 2001, NASA began to ponder the need for astronauts to have a long-term, self-renewing food source, and began experimenting with growing turkey meat.
In 2009, scientists from the Netherlands announced that they were able to grow a piece of pork. They presented the result of their work for discussion throughout the scientific world, and thus were able to find many sponsors willing to invest in the development of this industry.
Hamburger with artificial meat
A piece of pork grown by scientists has become the first success in the field of growing meat in a test tube. It was decided to work further in the given direction, and funding did not take long to arrive. Wealthy sponsors from all over the world began to invest in the development, but they themselves decided to remain in the shadows, not disclosing their names.
Scientist Mark Post took up beef farming and promised that in 2012 he would provide enough beef to make one hamburger. Only he immediately warned that the price of this piece would be exorbitant, and taste qualities will not be able to match real meat, but this is just the beginning!
Artificial meat from cow stem cells was able to grow to a weight of 140 grams by 2013, and, as promised, the long-awaited hamburger was prepared from it. Only the dish was not put up for auction, but was fed to nutritionist Hanni Rutzer for free in order to receive a professional assessment of the finished first artificial meat suitable for food.
The tasting took place in London, and the “experimental” nutritionist gave his verdict: the meat was too dry, completely devoid of fat, but quite edible.
Scientists promised that if funding continues, they will be able to grow a juicy, large piece of meat into more short time. They said they were able to figure out the cause of the dryness and know how to correct the situation better side. If the dynamics are positive, affordable and good quality artificial meat will appear on store shelves within 20 years.
How is meat grown in vitro?
The production of artificial meat is a rather complex process. Stem cells are taken from the animal and placed in a special container where they will grow. Cells constantly need oxygen, which in a living creature is supplied by blood vessels. Here, the vessels are replaced by bioreactors in which a sponge-matrix is formed (meat grows in it, is enriched with oxygen, and removes waste).
There are two types of artificial meat: unbound muscle tissue, full muscle tissue. Scientists are working hard on the second option. The process is complex because it needs correct formation fibers, and for this the muscle needs to be trained daily! That is why growth is still too long.
Difficulties
Initially, cultured meat will be expensive, and not every company will decide to introduce it into the ranks of products familiar to people.
There may also be a problem with a person's trust in such a product. There will be many questions about how genetic modifications will affect the health of the body. Not every person will be able to eat artificial meat, as they will be afraid for their condition, although scientists promise that it will be safer than the real thing.
It will take quite a long time for people to get used to the innovation, so this industry will develop more slowly than expected.
Farmers are already beginning to worry about their well-being, as they are afraid that “live meat” will cease to be in demand and they will be left without work.
However, no matter how pessimistic the predictions, artificial meat is our future, and the future of the entire planet. We can't wait to taste a cutlet that didn't require the killing of an animal to make!
