Cultured meat promises to change the way we eat and help solve some of the big problems of a crowded planet. When will it be on our plate and how will this technology impact the world?

In a couple of years, your food might be served with meat that has been grown from animal cells in a factory rather than on a farm. Over the past decade, the field of cultured meat has evolved from just a few pioneers to a growing number of players working towards the common goal of making meat derived from animals a thing of the past.

We are now at a point where cultured meat has already hit the market; Singapore made history in 2020 as the first country to approve the sale of a cultured meat product. The approval in question went to cultured chicken manufactured by the US firm Eat Just for use in chicken nuggets.

With this building momentum, the commercialization of cultured meat in Europe and the US seems inevitable. To prepare for its arrival, it’s important to start thinking about the impact the technology will make, how it will be regulated, and whether people will actually want to eat it.

How is artificial meat made?
Also known as cultured or cell-based meat, artificial meat is grown from animal cells in a laboratory. Start-up companies have grown artificial beef, pork, chicken and even fish. However, none is commercially available yet.

There are different ways to grow artificial meat, but most use adult stem cells from a live animal. For beef, a tiny muscle sample is taken from a cow, under local anaesthesia. The muscle is chopped into smaller pieces, using enzymes to digest it and release the stem cells.

In a huge vat called a bioreactor, the stem cells are immersed in a broth containing salts, vitamins, sugars and proteins, as well as growth factors. The oxygen-rich, temperature-controlled environment allows cells to multiply dramatically. The stem cells then differentiate into muscle fibres that bunch together, aided by scaffolding material. The meat is ready for processing or cooking in a matter of weeks.

Producing a thick piece of steak is still some way off, with minced meat far easier to replicate. 3D printing is one possible option for creating a juicy steak layer by layer, but this technology is still in its infancy.


Will artificial meat ever taste as good as the real thing?
The first artificial beef burger (unveiled to great fanfare in 2013 and developed at a cost of €250,000) was reported to be rather dry and dense, consisting solely of muscle fibres.

A good meat replacement needs to mimic smell, texture and taste, which is no mean feat. In an animal, muscle comprises organised fibres, blood vessels, nerves, connective tissues and fat cells. Thousands of flavour molecules contribute to real meat’s rich taste. It’s possible to add synthetic flavours to artificial meat, but balancing and distributing them is tricky.

Progress has been made since 2013 and a Dutch company called Meatable now claims to be able to reprogram stem cells collected from bovine umbilical cord blood, turning them into master cells that can differentiate into fat or muscle. This allows muscle and fat cells to grow together as they do in animals. In theory, cells from different species could be grown together to create completely new flavours.

Is artificial meat safe?
Artificial meat is touted as being as safe or safer than the real thing, produced in a highly controlled environment.

It is highly unlikely to become contaminated with harmful bacteria such as E. coli because there are no digestive organs to worry about. With whole animals, there’s always a risk of meat becoming contaminated with bacteria after slaughter.

Having said that, artificial meat producers do need to take extra care to keep everything sterile because the nutrient-rich environment in the bioreactors is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

Some people have raised concerns over the growth factors added to stem cells, which include hormones. These hormones are naturally present in animals as well as in real meat. However, overexposure can have adverse health effects in humans. This is why growth hormones have been banned in agriculture in the EU since 1981.

Does artificial meat contain enough nutrition?
Artificial meat is packed with protein and newer versions also contain fat. The nutritional content can be controlled to a certain extent by adjusting fat levels and playing with the levels of saturated fatty acids and healthier polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Saturated fats can be replaced with other types of fats, such as omega-3s, found naturally in fish or flaxseed oil. It’s also possible to add extra micronutrients such as vitamin B12 to artificial meats, as is routinely done to breads and breakfast cereals.

The fact remains that eating too much red meat is bad for our health, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. With its controlled fat levels, artificial meat may be slightly healthier, but it would still need to be eaten in moderation.

Plant-based meat alternatives may be the healthiest option, with similar protein levels and lower levels of saturated fat compared to conventional meat burgers.

Ethical Concerns About Cultured Meat

Australian bioethicist Julian Savulescu said, "Artificial meat stops cruelty to animals, is better for the environment, could be safer and more efficient, and even healthier. We have a moral obligation to support this kind of research. It gets the ethical two thumbs up."

Animal welfare groups are generally in favor of cultured meat, because the culture process does not include a nervous system and therefore does not involve pain or infringement of rights. Reactions of vegetarians to cultured meat vary. Some feel the cultured meat presented to the public in August 2013 was not vegetarian because fetal bovine serum was used in the growth medium.However, since then, cultured meat has been grown with a medium that does not involve bovine serum.

Philosopher Carlo Alvaro argues that the question of the morality of eating in vitro meat has been discussed only in terms of convenience. Alvaro proposes a virtue-oriented approach, suggesting that the determination to produce cultured meat stems from unvirtuous motives, i.e., "lack of temperance and misunderstanding of the role of food in human flourishing."

Some have proposed independent inquiries into the standards, laws, and regulations for cultured meat.

Just as with many other foods, cultured meat needs technically sophisticated production methods that may be difficult for some communities, meaning they would lack self-sufficiency and be dependent on global food corporations.

However, some projects are focusing on making cell ag accessible to all. The open source cellular agriculture initiative Shojinmeat Project has for instance a bottom-up approach, teaching members of the project to cultivate DIY cultured meat at home.

Establishing a similar parallel with cultured meat, some environmental activists claim that adopting a vegetarian diet may be a way of focusing on personal actions and righteous gestures rather than systemic change.

Environmentalist Dave Riley states that "being meatless and guiltless seems seductively simple while environmental destruction rages around us", and notes that Mollison "insists that vegetarianism drives animals from the edible landscape so that their contribution to the food chain is lost".


Religious considerations

Jewish rabbinical authorities disagree whether cultured meat is kosher, meaning acceptable under Jewish law and practice.
One factor is the nature of the animal from which the cells are sourced, whether it is a kosher or non-kosher species and whether, if the cells were taken from a dead animal, slaughter in accordance with religious practice had taken place prior to the extraction of cells.
Most authorities agree that if the original cells were taken from a religiously slaughtered animal then the meat cultured from it will be kosher.

Depending on the nature of the cells, it may be determined to be kosher even when taken from a live animal, and some have argued that it would be kosher even if coming from non-kosher animals such as pigs.

Islamic dietary practices must also be considered. The Islamic Institute of Orange County, California said, "There does not appear to be any objection to eating this type of cultured meat."

In addition, Abdul Qahir Qamar of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy said that cultured meat "will not be considered meat from live animals, but will be cultured meat." As long as the cells are not from pigs, dogs, and other haram animals, the meat would be considered vegetative and "similar to yogurt and fermented pickles."

Hinduism typically excludes the consumption of beef, such as steak and burgers. Chandra Kaushik, president of the Hindu Mahasabha, said about cultured beef that he would "not accept it being traded in a marketplace in any form or being used for a commercial purpose."

Catholicism, which excludes eating meat in certain days along the year (Lent, Holy Week), has not pronounced on whether cultivated meat is banned (as it happens with meat) or not (as with any other food as vegetables or fish).