Republican politician Jim DeSana does not want you to eat lab-grown meat.
The state Representative recently introduced legislation to ban lab-grown meat from being sold in Michigan (along with a resolution to protect the right to hunt in Michigan’s constitution).
In the legislation, DeSana defines cultivated meat as ‘a meat or meat product that was produced from cultured animal tissue produced from in vitro animal cell cultures outside of the animal from which the cells were derived’.
‘Eating real meat is healthy,’ he said.
It’s not that he objects to the taste. It’s highly unlikely he’s ever tried any. Mr DeSana’s beef with fake steak, chicken or any other cultured meat (also called cell-cultured or cell-based) is an ideological crusade against science which started during the COVID pandemic when social distancing rules meant his son couldn’t compete in a rowing contest. This injustice, in DeSana’s eyes, is proof that scientists are clueless.
‘The ‘follow-the-science’ crowd cancelled a sport that competes outside in the fresh air, on a river,’ he railed. ‘I’m done with these people. I don’t trust them when they say to follow the science because they did some of the most anti-scientific things possible, and they still haven’t acknowledged the harm they caused. So no, I don’t want lab-grown meat as a substitute for the real thing and I don’t want to get my protein by eating bugs. Let the chickens eat the bugs the way nature intended; we’ll eat the chickens.’
That DeSana (who votes against measures to increase clean energy production in his constituency) conflates lab-grown meat and the drive to use more insects as a source of protein with a loss of freedom is unsurprising. The trope forms part of a popular conspiracy beloved of many MAGA devotees and far right extremists that describes a shadowy ‘global elite’ which is covertly subjugating mankind, in part by making people eat bugs. The World Economic Forum has advocated eating insects as a solution to global warming.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture green-lit the sale of cell-cultivated meat last year. In May, under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida became the first US state to ban it.
‘Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,’ DeSantis said at the time.
Alternative protein has become a hot potato in many nations. In March this year far-right Dutch politician Thierry Baudet tweeted ‘WE WILL NOT EAT THE BUGS’ accompanied by a photo of himself holding a microphone in one hand and pouring golden mealworms out of a bag in the other.
Earlier in the month, Poland’s ruling nationalist party Law and Justice falsely alleged that the opposition was trying to push citizens into eating worms. The accusations came after the European Union approved mealworms and crickets as food ingredients.
In addition to the US, lab-grown meat is already sold and eaten in Singapore.
Lab-grown meat – the science
In its simplest form, lab-grown meat involves taking cells from an animal and making meat outside that animal by culturing the cells in a matrix in a lab using a medium of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. The resulting protein can then be formed into edible products.
No animals are killed. There’s no contamination risk. No vaccines, antibiotics, steroids or hormones are used, and proponents argue that the process is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than livestock farming.
In a victory for science and commonsense, consumers concerned about ethics, food security and health seem unconvinced that lab-grown meat is the thin end of a dystopian wedge. In 2023 the global cultured meat market was estimated to be worth $0.2bn
Climate scientists argue that reducing meat consumption will be one of the most effective ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A paper in the journal Nature this year estimated a transition to ‘cellular agriculture’, combined with green energy technologies, could cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by 52 per cent as meat accounts for nearly 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in food production. Meat is also a major driver of deforestation.
In a victory for science and commonsense, consumers concerned about ethics, food security and health seem unconvinced that lab-grown meat is the thin end of a dystopian wedge. In 2023 the global cultured meat market was estimated to be worth $0.2bn. Demand is predicted to boom as more products come on stream in the coming years and with an estimated compound annual growth rate of 51.6 per cent until 2030, according to Grand View Research.
Investors are jumping on board. Agronomics is backing over 20 cellular agriculture startups and food industry giants such as Cargill and Tyson, not to mention Bill Gates and Richard Branson, are investing. The gravy train is uncertain, however. Particularly in the US where politics, conspiracy and strong pro-farming, pro-meat lobby combine to make a challenging environment. In June, SCiFi Foods, a hyped US cultivated meat startup folded, citing insufficient funds.
Cultured or cultivated meat is grown in industrial vats called bioreactors. The pandemic slowed production of these vital pieces of equipment, which were also used by the pharmaceutical industry. Now supply chain issues have eased, the cultivated meat industry has seen accelerated growth, which has also been driven by technological advancements, product launches, increased investments, and funding.
Meatly’s cultured chicken products derive from a single vial containing about five million cells from a single hen’s egg which it purchased in September 2022. No other animals have been involved since
Regulation controlling the sale and classification of cell-cultured meat varies from nation to nation. In the UK for example, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not define it as meat. Instead, it is classified as a product of animal origin. Cell-cultivated products must be authorised before they can be placed on the market in Britain and must comply with regulations applicable to all food on the market, such as hygiene rules or general food law. The first cultivated meat to be authorised for sale in the UK and Europe is pet food made by British company Meatly.
Its cultured chicken products derive from a single vial containing about five million cells from a single hen’s egg which it purchased in September 2022. No other animals have been involved since.
Owen Ensor, is founding CEO of Meatly. He tells The Ethicalist: ‘The hype and excitement among consumers about cultivated meat are high. The next step is to focus on scaling the technology to an industrial level, to produce kinder meat at scale that is better for people, the planet, and our pets, too.’
The aim, he says, is to reach price parity between cultivated meat and traditional meat as soon as possible. This means bringing production costs down by scaling up processes and developing cheaper media in which to culture the cells.
‘We’ve managed to create a protein-free media that has massively reduced the cost of producing cultivated meat, from hundreds of pounds a litre of media to just £1 (AED 5),’ says Owen, who hopes Meatly products will be on shelves and available to purchase online within the next year or so.
He says there is no discernible taste difference between his cell-cultured meat and traditional meat.
‘It tastes the same and has the same nutritional profile too, but no animal had to be killed to produce it,’ he continues. ‘Through our feeding trials, we’re finding that cultivated meat is as tasty for pets as traditionally reared meat. Two of the fussiest cats I know, Lamu and Zanzi, whom my partner and I rescued a few years ago, support this. They’re huge Meatly advocates and love to eat our chicken.’
And as for politics, he concludes: ‘Currently, farmers need to use increasingly intensive processes to keep up with demand and stay afloat financially. Alternative proteins can help fill the demand gap and allow farmers to focus on creating high-quality, high-value products instead.
‘Politicians’ banning a product that is only available in a few restaurants worldwide does nothing for farmers and denies consumer choice. We should instead encourage politicians to focus on implementing the right structures and incentives to create a food system that allows our farmers, our planet, ourselves and animals to flourish.’
Halal and Cruelty-free
In the UAE, AGWA (AgriFood Growth & Water Abundance), Abu Dhabi’s new food and water cluster, and Believer Meats, a global leader in the cultivated meat industry are working together to establish a regulatory pathway and halal certification standards for cultivated meat products.
British company Ivy Farm Technologies is planning to expand into the MENA market. Riley Jackson, is the company’s strategic partnerships and marketing manager. She says: ‘The potential of cultivated meat in the MENA region is huge. Firstly, given the large emphasis on providing a meat that is in line with Islamic dietary laws and needs, cultivated meat is an obvious choice. Not only can it be fully halal, but it also is cruelty free. Whilst there is still a need for education on the benefits of cultivated meat in the MENA region, over time we’re confident that this will happen.
‘Cultivated meat also offers the Middle East huge benefits in bolstering food security – the Gulf region, for example, imports 65 per cent of the meat it consumes and much more in some regions. If cultivated meat can be produced there, it reduces the reliance on meat supply chains which are becoming increasingly volatile due to geopolitical events and a changing climate.’
Riley points out that the sector is moving at ‘lightning speed’ compared to traditional food or biotechnology.
‘Businesses around the globe are vying to achieve the best possible advances in food to stay competitive and meet sustainability requirements,’ she says. ‘For cultivated meat, advances have been made in bringing costs down to make industrial-scale more feasible, and in the selection of the right cell lines and constellation of nutrients to help those cells thrive.’
She believes that in the UK approval for human consumption is not far away. And once consumers get a taste for cruelty-free meat, the potential is endless.
‘Early iterations will be focusing on recreating familiar favourites like burgers, chicken nuggets and ground meat products,’ says Riley, ‘but in the future, we could see specific fats marbled into steaks by 3d printers set up in the back of your favourite restaurant.’
The production of bespoke meat of any description could even be a possibility, effectively ending the need for illegal poaching, mass production, long-distance shipments, and overhunting. The potential could be endless.
