Most cultured meat is treated the same. Cells are taken from an animal, often by biopsy or from an established animal cell line. These cells are then fed with a nutrient broth and placed in a bioreactor, where they multiply until there is enough to harvest and use in meatballs or seeds. Many startups have been founded using variations of this approach, in the belief that cultured meat will appeal to flexitarians – people who want to reduce the amount of meat they consume for ethical or environmental reasons, but don’t want to. give it up. . entirely.
The fledgling industry has come a long way since a $ 330,000 hamburger was cooked on television in 2013, driven by the idea that if done right, meat could be produced with much less emissions. greenhouse gases and no suffering. animal. But cost remains a barrier: The high price of the growth factors needed for cell development means that the prices of pure cultured meat products are still measured in hundreds of dollars per pound, too expensive to compete with regular meat. So Just’s first chicken products will be chicken “bites” that use cultured chicken cells mixed with plant protein, although Tetrick did not specify in what proportion. “The chicken nuggets are already mixed, this one won’t be any different,” he says. Bites will be labeled “Farmed Chicken” on the restaurant menu.
Singapore’s move could fuel the first wave of regulatory approvals around the world.
“We hope and hope that the United States, China and the EU will take up the challenge that Singapore has just launched,” says Bruce Friedrich, executive director of the Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization working on meat substitutes . “Nothing is more important for the climate than a change in factory farming.”
While Just has beaten them to the end, many large companies are already working with regulators to bring their own products to market. This is not something that should be rushed, says Friedrich: “It is essential that cultured meat companies are more careful and exceed consumer expectations to ensure consumer comfort with their products.”
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Memphis Meats, which counts Bill Gates, Richard Branson and traditional meat maker Tyson Foods among its many investors, has partnered with several other companies, including seafood makers Just and farmed BlueNalu and Finless Foods, to form a lobby group that works with US regulators to get their products approved.