UPSC CSE – SYLLABUS – GS – 3- Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
Lab Grown Meat
Lab-grown or cultured meat different from plant-based meat:
- The latter is made from plant sources such as soy or pea protein, while cultured meat is grown directly from cells in a laboratory.
- Both have the same objective: to offer alternatives to traditional meat products that could feed a lot more people, reduce the threat of zoonotic diseases, and mitigate the environmental impact of meat consumption.
- In terms of cellular structure, cultured or cultivated meat is the same as conventional meat — except that cultured meat does not come directly from animals.
- According to the Good Food Institute (GFI)’s 2019 State of the Industry Report on cultivated meats, compared to conventional beef, cultivated beef could reduce land use by more than 95%, climate change emissions by 74-87% and nutrient pollution by 94%.
- The report adds that since cultivated meat is created in clean facilities, the risk of contamination by pathogens such as salmonella and E coli, which may be present in traditional slaughterhouses and meat-packing factories, is significantly reduced.
- It does not require antibiotics either, unlike animals raised for meat, thereby reducing the threat posed to public health by growing antibiotic resistance.
Production of cultured meat:
- According to the GFI report, by the end of 2019, 55 companies were focused on cultivated meat products, including Future Meat Technologies (chicken, lamb, beef) in Israel, Biftek (beef) in Turkey, Cubiq Foods (chicken fat) in Spain, Netherlands-based Meatable (pork, beef), French company Gourmet (foie gras) and US-based Memphis Meats (beef, chicken, duck).
- Also among these is Delhi-based Clear Meat, which is developing cultured chicken.
Challenges:
- There are still significant hurdles to be overcome before cultured meat is widely available.
- Apart from ensuring that the products are affordable — currently still a challenge — and dealing with consumer mistrust, producers of alternative meats will face resistance from traditional meat producers.
- The world’s largest meat companies, such as Nestlé, Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms, have already jumped on the fast-moving plant-based meat bandwagon.
- But production of cultured meat is difficult to scale up at present.
Future prospects:
- There are still significant hurdles to be overcome before cultured meat is widely available.
- Apart from ensuring that the products are affordable — currently still a challenge — and dealing with consumer mistrust, producers of alternative meats will face resistance from traditional meat producers.
- The world’s largest meat companies, such as Nestlé, Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms, have already jumped on the fast-moving plant-based meat bandwagon.
- But production of cultured meat is difficult to scale up at present.
Source: ” Indian Express”.
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