Lab-Grown Meat - UPSC
The first country to approve the sale of alternative meat was Singapore in 2020.
What is Cultivated Meat?
To make cell-cultivated meat, these two companies isolate the cells that make up this meat (the meat that we consume).
They then put the isolated cells in a setting where they have all the resources they need to grow and make more copies of themselves.
These resources are typically nutrients, fats, carbohydrates, amino acids, the right temperature, etc.
The ‘setting’ in which this process transpires is often a bioreactor (also known as a ‘cultivator’).
This cultivator is a sensor-fit device – like a container – that has been designed to support a particular biological environment.
Because of the techniques involved, producing meat in this way is also called cellular agriculture.
Once these cells have become sufficiently large in number, they resemble a mass of minced meat.
They are collected and then processed, with additives to improve their texture and/or appearance, and are destined for various recipes.
Types of Cell-Cultivated Meat
After pork, chicken is the second most widely consumed meat in the world, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Good Meat and Upside have thus far focused on chicken, and plan to expand their offerings to include other meats in future.
Researchers are also developing cell-cultivated versions of sea bass, tuna, shrimp, and pork.
The consulting firm McKinsey has estimated that the global alternative meat market could reach $20-25 billion in sales by 2030.
What is the Need to Create Cell-Cultivated Meat
The proponents of cell-cultivated meat have advanced the following arguments in favour of developing lab-grown meat –
Emissions, Land Use, Prevention of Animal Slaughter, Food Security, and Customisation.
The FAO has estimated that global livestock is responsible for 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions.
Of this, the production of beef as a commodity accounted for 41%, whereas chicken meat and eggs accounted for 8%.
Similarly, the 2021 report estimated that lab-cultivated meat would use 63% less land in the case of chicken and 72% in the case of pork.
Climate scientists have also asked people – especially in richer countries – to reduce their meat consumption, but carnivorous diets remain popular, in turn maintaining lab-grown meat as a promising alternative.
Its proponents have also advanced such meat as a way to meet the world’s nutritional security needs.
Finally, some experts have said that lab-grown meat can be customised to be healthier than their animal counterpart, such as being designed to contain less fat, thus contributing to public health.
Challenges Involved With Cell-Cultivated Meat
Consumer Acceptance
Perfectly substituting animal meat with alternative meat requires the latter to match the former’s taste, texture, and appearance, and cost.
Cost
The cost of cell-cultivated meat is expected to remain high in the near future.
Resources
For the cellular cultivation process, researchers require high quality cells to begin with, a suitable growth-medium in which the cells can be cultured, other resources required to maintain the quality of the final product
Criticism
A recent study found that if cell cultivation requires a “highly refined growth medium”, akin to that used in in the pharmaceutical industry, then the “environmental impact of near-term [cell-cultivated meat] production is likely to be orders of magnitude higher than median beef production.
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