Now that cultivated meat, colloquially known as lab-grown meat, is approved for sale in the United States, let’s analyze the pros and cons of this new product
In case you haven’t heard the news yet, UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat have just been granted full regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to produce and sell their cultivated chicken meat in the United States. All in all, this is a historic milestone in the meat production industry.
This morning, GOOD Meat received its final round of approval from the USDA and is approved for sale in the U.S. This final approval means that #GOODMeat is declared safe to eat and produce in the United States, marking a groundbreaking moment for cultivated meat. pic.twitter.com/tWeObB400c
— GOOD Meat (@GOODMeat) June 21, 2023
However, let us make it clear—cultivated meat is meat. The only difference is in how they are made since the meat is grown from real animal cells that are painlessly extracted. In UPSIDE Foods’ words, the process of making cultivated meat is similar to brewing beer. Herein lies the main selling point of cultivated meat: you get to enjoy eating meat without participating in the slaughter of animals.
Besides removing needless animal cruelty from the equation, this innovative process is seen as more sustainable for the environment. This is primarily because traditional animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gasses (GHG)—the driving force behind global warming and climate change. Raising livestock for human consumption also generates more total GHG emissions than all forms of transportation combined. This all plays into why researchers recommend the reduction of meat consumption as soon as possible.
However, lab-grown meat has its own breed of problems. Other studies show that cultivated meat is not automatically better for the environment because the production process is still highly energy-intensive.
Not only that, but there are still technological limitations concerning the materials needed and the method of mass production that prevent many other meat production companies from adopting this process. So for us here in the Philippines, it’ll still be many, many years from now until we get to buy lab-grown meat in the grocery store.
Our takeaway
All that being said, we think that cultivated meat is something that we should take a chance on and let researchers refine further. Because even with the potential environmental harm lab-grown meat can do, this new process will still take up less land than traditional animal agriculture. This means that fewer natural habitats with wildlife within them will be converted into farmlands. And, of course, fewer animals are harmed in the process, which is great to hear for anyone internally struggling with the ethics of meat consumption.
