Is test tube meat, grown in a laboratory, slated to become the future of food? If proven to be grown from natural substances, and not genetically modified, lab grown meat products may become commercially viable enough to replace live animals and reduce animal slaughter; according to experiments now being carried out.
Although laboratory grown meat cells are not yet found in local supermarkets or as hamburger patties or chicken nuggets at fast food restaurants, the idea of growing meat from self-producing animal cells may wind up causing a revolution in the meat production industry. Following on the heels of successful laboratory growing of ground beef from animal cells, efforts by a couple of food companies, US based Memphis Meats and a Dutch company Mosa Meats, successful growing of chicken strips for food purposes has now become a reality.
The new lab grown chicken strips were grown in stainless steel vats and were successfully tested on a group of people, who said afterwards that they would eat the lab grown chicken product again.
It’s still prohibitively expensive to produce such meat, however, since the lab produced beef patties and meatballs cost around $!8,000 a pound (450g) and the new chicken strips around $9,000 a pound. The eventual savings to the environment, as well as less animal slaughter, will definitely weigh in, once the costs of producing such foods are reduced.
Producing lab grown or cultured chicken meat is considered to be a major achievement in the future of meat processing, due to so much chicken meat being consumed in Western countries. The average American eats more than 90 lbs (41kg) of chicken per year; and Israelis alone consume more than 36 kg per year or 76 lbs. It will still be awhile before lab grown chicken meat will be found common chicken nuggets; but Memphis Meats hopes to have it available for the mass market by 2021. Work in developing cultured meat in Israel is being undertaken by the Modern Agriculture Foundation.
There may be issues concerning cultured meat in that it can be grown faster if genetically modified. This possibility remains to be dealt with, however, as cultured meat is still a work in progress.