2 Comments


  1. This seems like the next progressive step in the meat production world. With the high environmental and economical costs associated with live stock to be able to produce the “essential” parts seems a logical step. Just as long as farms don’t disappear entirely. But I guess we’d get a whole new class of “factory meats”.

    I’ll finish by asking if vegetarians can have lab grown products why shouldn’t meat eaters too?

    • Sarah Webb

      I haven’t had a chance to look at it closely yet, but I’m guessing you might have seen this new study that compares the environmental impact of conventional livestock versus lab-grown meat. I think it’s a good idea as long as scientists can work out the kinks. Right now lab meat is still incredibly expensive to produce, and they don’t have the tissue engineering worked out to give it texture that compares to a pork chop or steak. My guess is that those issues will come in time, and if so, you’re probably right, factory meat could be its own class in the supermarket. But it does beg the question about what the consumer will do. Given the choice, will a person in the supermarket choose “factory meat,” farm-raised meat (likely priced at a premium), or bypass meat entirely? It might boil down to an interesting social science and economics question in the end.

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