Cultured Meat to Satisfy Consumers
What is cultured meat?
Cultured meat is chicken, pork, or beef that is grown from cells cultured in a lab. The process of making this kind of mean does not require the slaughter of a single animal. Because the cells are biopsied from the animal while it is alive and then grown in a bioreactor. The solution used to nourish the cells and stimulate their multiplication is entirely plant-based. So, it can be said that no animal meat is used in the process of making it.
Why is it essential to make cultured meat?
There are several reasons why companies are striving to make cultured meat in different forms and kinds. The cultured meat industry on a large scale is supposed to be a sustainable replacement for animal agriculture. This industry is growing partly for ethical reasons. The other reason is the environmental impact of animal agriculture, which is getting more serious by the year.
Most experts believe that as the level of wealth in the world increases, meat consumption is bound to go up too. This means that the 9.6 billion people who will occupy the earth by the year 2025 will require much more meat than we are capable of producing right now. On the other hand, one of the primary reasons for deforestation is creating farmland and ranches to provide food for human beings.
Raising cattle is responsible for about 14 percent of all the greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere. Moreover, about a third of the world’s freshwater is consumed on livestock and creating animal products. All this is with today’s consumption rate of meat and its products. This rate, according to the forecast, is going to increase uncontrollably.
Some research shows that animals are capable of feeling all the pain and fear imposed on them during their life in ranches. These animals are usually kept in tight spaces, unable to move or see their children. All the discomfort can affect the tissue in the animals’ muscles and be potentially harmful to use.
Which companies are trying to create cultured meat?
Memphis Meats
Memphis Meats started working on producing cultured meat in 2015. Their long-term plan is to feed 10 billion people with their products by 2050. This company’s mission is to create delicious and healthy meat using cells. The meat made at Memphis Meats does not have any antibiotics or growth hormones, which can cause serious harm to the human system. The goal is to keep conventional meat’s benefits while making it safer, healthier, and more nutritious.
Early in 2020, Memphis Meats raised more than $160 million to build a production facility to bring its product to market as soon as possible. Most of this fund was provided by the famous technology leader company called Software Banks. Other investors include Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and Kimbal Musk.
Eat Just
Eat Just is another company that uses cutting-edge technology to create healthy, sustainable, and delicious food. The first breakthrough this company had was eggs. Just Eat’s experts started looking for a plant-based protein source that can substitute eggs and can be used in scrambled eggs, cookies, or ice-cream. They finally found the answer in monk beans that makes precisely the same taste, texture, and quality as real eggs. Just Mayo, Just Ranch, and Just Egg were the first products by Just Eat to hit the market officially. Today, Just Egg can be found in supermarkets all over the world. This is a solution that is as nutritious as real eggs, without any cholesterol or other harmful chemicals or contamination that might be found in real eggs.
After the great success of Just Egg, the company strived to create chicken meat from cells in a bioreactor. The chicken meat made in Just Eat does not contain any antibiotics or hormones. The nutrient solution in which the cells are grown is entirely plant-based, and the company has made more than 20 production runs in 1,200-liter bioreactors. The produced chicken is high in protein and low in harmful fats. It also contains all the vitamins and minerals chicken is supposed to have.
Just Eat’s cultured chicken was rigorously tested and analyzed by Singapore Food Agency and finally approved for human use. Moreover, a distinguished panel of international scientists tested Just Eat’s chicken and deemed it safe for human consumption. Therefore, Just Eat’s cultured chicken is the only lab-grown protein source approved for sale in restaurants and markets. This breakthrough has set the first step towards achieving the goal of feeding the world with safe and delicious food grown in factories rather than ranches.
Mosa Meat
Mosa Meat is a company based in the Netherlands working to grow beef from a few cells harvested from a live cow. The cow does not feel much pain in the harvest process, and it certainly does not lose its life to provide us with beef. The first burger created by Mosa Meat was tasted in 2013. In 2020, this company has raised another $75 million to improve its cell culture methods and develop a plant-based serum to feed the cells. Additionally, Mosa Meat is building its first pilot plant to produce meat on a large scale.
Mosa Meat has not yet started to process to get approval for sale. But they plan to begin the process in the first half of 2021. As this process is expected to take about a year or a year and a half, the product is forecasted to enter the market by the end of 2022. With the cooperation of Mitsubishi, Mosa Meat expects to keep well ahead of its competitors and give us the first lab-grown burger in just a few years.
How large is the market for cultured meat?
From $206 million in 2020, the market for cultured meat is expected to reach $572 million by 2025. Of course, this number will probably grow exponentially once the cultured meat, chicken, and fish enters the market and finds their place in the competition with conventional meat, chicken, and fish.
As more companies manage to perfect their product and lower their prices, more people would approve of this new idea of food that does not harm nature and creatures to be prepared. One of the most critical factors in this market’s success is the consumers’ attitude towards cultured meat. Today, as the effect of raising animals for their meat on the environment becomes more precise, this attitude is rapidly changing.
Right now, one of the biggest challenges the cultured meat industry is facing is price reduction. In order for cultured meat to be booming in the consumers’ market, it needs to be the same price as conventional meat, or even cheaper. Mosa Meat’s burgers, for instance, started their way with $250,000 per burger patty. This company has already managed to reduce this price 88 times. However, it still has a long way to go. Mosa Meat’s goal is to reach a price of $10.62 per patty. The button line is that the cultured food industry is definitely the next big thing is to look forward to both in the stock market and on our supermarket shelves.
