Cultured meat price plummeting

David3

Forum Legend
Joined
May 19, 2016
Reaction score
2,468
Age
55
Location
California, USA
Lifestyle
  1. Vegan
Singapore restaurant "1880" has made cultured chicken ("vat grown" chicken) a regular menu item. $23 meal price is affordable to upscale consumers: Singapore Restaurant is First to Add Lab-Grown Chicken to the Menu |

I avoid speculating, but it seems like manufacturing scale-up will ultimately (and sooner than we think) make cultured meat less expensive than meat-from-an-entire-animal.

Edison Investment Research predicts that, by the year 2040, cultured-meat and veg-based meats will comprise 60% of the total meat market: Meating Demand - The lean, green money-making machine | Edison . The year 2040 may seem like the distant future, but it is an eye-blink in terms of human history.

1619319358474.png

I would encourage young people to choose a career in cultured meat technology development - this is the work of biologists, process engineers, mechanical engineers, and food scientists. Large agri-business companies, like Cargill, are investing in cultured meat companies: Protein innovation: Cargill invests in cultured protein | Cargill .
 
Last edited:
I read that cultured meat still kills animals as they use host animals to produce some sort of fluid needed to grown the cells in.

Fewer animals are killed, but lab meat still isn't animal-death free.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: David3
I haven't been all that interested in Lab Grown Meat, but I thought muscle cells were harvested and then grown. I was under the impression that havesting some cells was a one-and-done thing. Also that the animal maybe didn't even have to be killed for the harvesting - although I'm pretty sure that the cow haven't contributed some cells isn't retired (in a good way).
 
There is some sort of solution in pregnant animals needed to grow the muscles cells. I'm pretty sure if you DuckDuckGo on it for about 6 minutes you will find a good explanation.
.
"Memphis Meats has figured out a way to grow animal cells without the use of fetal bovine serum (FBS)."

"[Memphis Meats] do not expect to ever sell products made with FBS. This is critical for all cell-base companies, as FBS is expensive, inconsistent in quality, and derived from animals, which largely defeats the purpose behind these mission-driven companies."

Link: Lab-Grown Meat Is Coming to Your Plate
 
This cultured meat is good news because it will greatly reduce the animal suffering. It might not be vegan or ethical but relatively speaking it is such a dramatic improvement that we should support it or at least not oppose it.

I think the medium term future for veganism looks a bit better than a few years ago.

There is a bit of an awakening that we can greatly reduce pandemics if we stop eating meat, fake meat (Beyond, Impossible etc) is way ahead of even 4 years ago.

The other thing that´s potentially very important for animals is that there is more talk around a carbon tax/fee and it currently looks like we will have a decent one in many countries within this decade. We just need to make sure they include all greenhouse gases so that meat will be really penalized. That will be helpful because it will make meat more expensive, unless meat is given an exemption for political reasons.

By this decade real meat could perhaps be the most expensive option in countries with progressive taxation and that have invested in clean meat. By the next decade that may be true in other places as well.

Vegans will end up with other arguments other than moral superiority which will be very helpful.

Another change that I´ve noticed within the last 5 years since I first looked into veganism is that there is a growing agreement within intellectual circles that less meat or none at all is the right way forward. It´s become a topic that you should have an opinion on if you move in certain circles...journalists, podcasters, philosophers. Sort of an eclectic group of people and within that group a quiet consensus has been forming among these thinking types that the vegans are right. I think that this will trickle down over time and within the space of some years and decades most influencers, celebrities, left wing politicians, journalists, TV presenters will end up going vegetarian or taking a stance.

I think meat eating globally may continue to increase for a few years due to reduction of poverty but I think it will be on the way down within a decade or two, and I think it will be heavily on the decline within the lifetime of young people alive today.
 
Last edited: