Is lab-grown meat the future of food?

What’s happening

Americans love meat. And despite a whole range of new plant-based alternatives that have hit the market, our appetite for pork, beef and poultry only seems to be growing.

Producing all that meat, of course, means killing a lot of animals. Modern livestock farming also contributes to some of the world’s most pressing problems, including climate change, environmental destruction, drought and infectious diseases.

In the past few years, however, scientists have made breakthroughs on products that promise to allow Americans to keep eating the food they love without any of these negative consequences: lab-grown meat.

Unlike some of the innovative new plant-based substitutes that have recently hit the market, lab-grown meat — often called cultivated meat — is exactly what it sounds like. It’s actual meat that’s cellularly identical to meat at the grocery store, but it comes from a lab rather than from an animal that’s been raised and slaughtered.

Billions of dollars have been invested into developing lab-grown meat over the past several years, and the industry reached a major milestone last year, when regulators gave two companies approval to sell lab-grown chicken to the public for the first time. Still, the vision of cultivated meat filling up restaurant menus and grocery store shelves is a long way off. Several companies can produce it in small quantities, but none of them have figured out how to grow it at larger volumes in a cost-effective way. At the moment, lab-grown meat isn’t available for purchase anywhere in the U.S.

Some conservatives are hoping to keep it that way. Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he supports pending legislation that would ban the production or sale of what he called “fake meat” in the state. Similar bills have been proposed in Arizona and Tennessee. Some Republicans have also pushed laws that will limit how cultivated meat can be marketed. Lawmakers in Italy voted to ban lab-grown meat throughout their country late last year, though there’s some uncertainty whether that ban will be enacted.

Why there’s debate

Proponents of lab-grown meat envision a future where the world can enjoy all of the same foods they’ve always loved in a climate-friendly, cruelty-free way. But at this point it’s still not clear whether the companies that make it will ever solve the technical problems standing in the way of mass production — nor whether anyone will want to eat it even if they do.

Even some of the people who were hopeful about lab-grown meat in its earlier development have come to believe there’s very little hope that it will ever be possible to produce it at scale, let alone earn a profit while doing so. New research also suggests that there’s a long way to go before cultivated meat can actually be considered better for the climate than traditional farming. But optimists say it’s far too early to make any sweeping judgements about the feasibility of lab-grown meat, especially given the progress that’s been made in just a few years and promising recent discoveries that could radically lower the costs of making it.

For all of the practical challenges the cultivated meat industry is up against, it also faces serious cultural barriers that could stand in its way. Outside of an emerging push among conservatives to ban it, polls suggest that a lot of Americans aren’t open to trying meat that comes from a laboratory. Others argue, though, that we have no choice but to try to overcome all of these obstacles because cultivated meat may be the only way to meaningfully reduce the damage caused by livestock farming in a world where the global appetite is only expected to grow.

Perspectives

Lab-grown meat was always an empty fantasy

“Despite nearly a decade of work and a great many messianic pronouncements, it is increasingly clear that a broader cultivated meat revolution was never a real prospect, and definitely not within the few years we have left to avert climate catastrophe.” — Joe Fassler, New York Times

It’s hard to look at the progress being made and argue that the next steps are impossible

“The scientific process has worked. Crappy prototypes have become good prototypes. And good prototypes are becoming better.” — Annie Lowery, Atlantic

The “ick factor” is a huge problem that won’t be easily solved

“Before cultivated meat … can find a regular home on Americans’ plates, producers will need to answer one pretty basic question: How can they get consumers to bite?” — Abbey Stone, Daily Beast

The appeal of slaughter-free meat shouldn’t be underestimated

“Animals don't have to die for these products, which is a huge plus for consumers with ethical concerns about traditional meat production.” — Fiona Harrigan, Reason

We can’t just keep eating meat the same way we always have

“The only thing we can guarantee about the future is that big change is coming. Impetus for a major rethink of our relationship with meat is going to build, and quickly. Yet, our global appetite for meat continues to increase; as it stands, we are effectively mortgaging the future without an ability to pay.” — Philip Lymbery, Time

Whatever happens with lab-grown meat, the government shouldn’t stand in its way

“Anyone who truly believes in freedom wouldn’t want the government to trample on the free market and overrule people’s individual decision-making on something as simple as what they want to eat for dinner.” — Brad Polumbo, Washington Examiner

The climate benefits are still unproven

“We can't just take it as a given that cultured meat is good for the environment.” — Ned Spang, professor of food technology at UC Davis, to PBS NewHour

The economics of cultivated meat just don’t work

“Lab-grown meat may never make money. … The cost structure is expected to be out of whack for years, if not decades, and many of the folks trying lab-grown meat now for the first time may never see a time when the products are profitable.” — Chloe Sorvino, Forbes

If people care about the climate, they should just stop eating meat altogether

“It’s very unlikely you can design a product that can be more environmentally friendly than legumes.” — Marco Springmann, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, to Grist