The Future of Agri-Food In The Post COVID-19 Era — Part III-Cultured Meat
Front Line: Sustainability
by Yekta Kuseyrioğlu
The New Normal
The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused significant health and economic crises in every corner of the globe; it disturbed the political, social, and financial systems of the world and got us thinking about the what lies ahead on our future.
The pandemic hasn’t finished yet, but we are trying to adopt a new normal. The biggest question for this period is how to make the Post-COVID-19 era an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable one?
All the available evidence suggests that COVID-19 is a zoonotic illness, meaning that it was transmitted between animals and humans. According to Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, the world has seen at least six major outbreaks of novel coronaviruses in the last century. Human activity is mostly to blame for the cause of diseases. Overexploitation of wildlife, intensified agriculture, degradation of natural resources have contributed spread of pathogens.
The health of humanity depends on the health of the planet and the health of other species.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme
Under the Spotlight: Animal Welfare
One of the issues that come to mind when it comes to sustainability is meat production and consumption. Global meat consumption increased fivefold in the second half of the 20th century. It raised from 45 million tons of meat consumed in 1950 to nearly 300 million tons today.
The increased demand for animal protein push producers to exploit animals that put them in closer contact with disease vectors; with the increased productivity in animal farms, where there are real numbers of confined animals, are under the risk of spreading diseases.
The pandemic has exposed the challenges of the meat sector with food safety and processing facilities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several meat processing facilities were shut down as workers tested positive. In some countries, it caused supply chain disruptions.
The crisis showed that the conventional meat industry is problematic in many aspects; we wonder how the cultured meat industry will develop under the COVID-19 outbreak?
Cultured Meat and Food Safety
Lab-grown meat, also called cultured meat, clean meat, cell-based meat, or in vitro meat, is produced in a laboratory rather than in animals. Essentially the process of making cultured meat features:
- First, take some cells from the animal, under anesthesia, without slaughtering it.
- Second, place the cells in a medium that contains nutrients and allow them to generate just as they would inside the animal body.
When it comes to sustainability concerns, lab-grown meat has many promises. It is claimed that cultured meat uses less water and land than conventional methods.
Cultured meat doesn’t require the slaughter of the animals, thus contributes to animal welfare and sustainability. Moreover, as it is produced in a clean laboratory, it will help to prevent zoonotic diseases and supports food safety; which is one of the major conversation points with the Global Pandemic.
According to Food Navigator, COVID-19 Pandemic will boost the clean meat trend. David Brandes, the co-founder of Peace of Meat, told Food Navigator that:
“The Covid-19 is an accelerator for the interest in sustainable, locally produced food system solutions and consumers could be attracted to lab-grown meats safety credentials”.
We know that the cultured meat industry still has a long way to go (reducing costs, commercializing, etc.) before it can “threaten” the conventional animal farming. However, it could be a breakthrough for sustainability and can help to tackle diseases that transmit between animals and humans.
Here’s Your Latest News
Here’s our summary of the latest news from all around the world on cultured meat, featuring investment, consumer research and startup news below;
· Investment:
Integriculture and Shiok Meats, two cell-based meat companies announced their partnership to scale up production of cell-based shrimp.
· Consumer Research:
Rutgers University conducted a consumer study that showed that cell-based term is the preferred term to use for seafood made from fish cells.
· Startups:
- Aleph Farms, one of the leading companies in the cultured meat sector, was awarded as a technology pioneer by the World Economic Forum.
- SingCell, a provider of services that helps cultured meat companies get to market faster, is among the 12 startups joining the Singapore Food Bowl.
- KFC develops Lab-Grown 3D printed chicken in Moscow.
- Mosa Meat achieved an 80x reduction in the cost of the growth medium for lab-grown meat.
- TurtleTree labs have raised a seed round for their cell-based milk development.
If you want to learn more about cultured meat, you can also check out our report on the subject.
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