Is Meat from Cells the Answer?

Us humans consume roughly 315 million tons of meat every year, and in the years to come, there will be a 44% increase. Now everyone knows where this meat comes from, but do we ever think about what harmful effects it has on our planet?

About 1.5 billion hectares of the world's land is used for agriculture leading to deforestation, water waste/contamination as well as greenhouse gases. With our growing population, the world’s carrying capacity is going over-board and we need more land. We are even starting to reclaim land which is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. Global meat consumption is expected to double with a 50% increase in the global population during the next forty years if no actions are taken.

But what is the solution? It could be cellular agriculture, a method of making foods that come from animals, but essentially without those animals. It’s based on looking at the biological processes that happen on a more cellular level. (Milk is made by a cow, or an egg is made by a hen) → then replacing that process.

Cellular agriculture really focuses on the production of agricultural products from cell cultures and using a combination of molecular biology, tissue engineering, synthetic biology, and biotechnology to design and create various methods of producing things like fats, tissues, and proteins that would come from traditional agriculture in the beginning. It uses 50% lower energy usage, 99% lower land use, 75–95% lower greenhouse gas emissions and 80–95% less water.

But you may be thinking, how do I know it is not contaminated? In cellular agriculture, scientists obtain a near-sterile environment through culturing cells and tissues in Petri dishes which further prevents spores, bacteria, etc… from entering.

But why isn’t anyone eating lab-grown meat? Cellular agricultural meat is expected to hit the markets in 5 years due to the cost. However, other animals like cows, chickens, etc… as well as animal products like stem cells, which is a cell that is defined by its ability to self-renew or change into another cell type, and fetal serum are required in order to produce meat grown in labs. This means that while lab-grown meat has the possibility to save the lives of many animals, it is by no means vegetarian nor vegan.

Cellular agriculture involves cell extraction from an animal and then transferring them into a specific place that has nutrients and energy sources, which is mandatory for the growth and change of the stem cells. Here is a great article I read to learn a deeper meaning of what stem cells are, and how they help with lab-grown meat. → https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lab-grown-meat/

It is estimated that if scientists can create cellular agricultural meat at a reasonable price as well as a similar taste of regular meat, it is a possibility that it can disrupt the meat as well as the dairy industry. So in 5 years or maybe less, do you see yourself eating lab-grown meat?

You can contact me on my LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/hana-ahmad-332686189/?originalSubdomain=ca and my twitter, hana_ahmad _ for any questions :)