Lab-Grown Meat Is Here, But Does Anyone Want to Eat It?

Cultivated. Cultured. Lab-grown. Just don’t call it fake. Meat that comes from a lab, rather than a slaughterhouse, is very much real — right down to the molecular level.

“Stem cells from an animal are used to grow in a cultivated setting,” says Ginger Hultin, a registered dietitian nutritionist and author of Meal Prep for Weight Loss 101. “Specific equipment ensures the right growing conditions and waste removal — similar systems to how animal muscle would grow naturally.”

Earlier this year, the USDA approved labels that will go on “cell-cultured” chicken from two companies: Good Meat and Upside Foods.

Good Meat

And according to them, even the term “lab-grown” may understate the magnitude of progress here.

“[It’s] pejorative and factually inaccurate for what we will produce at scale,” says Andrew Noyes, a spokesperson on behalf of Good Meat. “The USDA had approved the term ‘cell-cultivated’ on our initial food service label.”

For one, the actual production facilities are less “lab” and more “brewery,” where carefully selected bits of actual chicken material are fed a nutrient-rich broth full of amino acids, carbs, minerals, fats and vitamins — basically, what a more traditional animal would eat with a more traditional mouth.

“Our research team identified the best chicken cells to produce cultivated meat, and we use chicken fibroblasts and established cell banks as the starting point for every production run,” Noyes says. “After our chicken cells are harvested from the cell culture tank, known as a ‘bioreactor,’ they are mixed with coingredients and shaped into different meat formats.” Those include crispy chicken bites, savory sausages and even grilled fillets.

Good Meat

More Meat, Less Leftovers

The problem with getting meat the traditional way is that you still have to grow all the bits you can’t eat. In a cultivated setting, you can use less to make more and do it faster, “completing growth in weeks rather than months or years,” Noyes says.

It also presents the opportunity to optimize what we’re putting in our bodies. “There is evidence that cell-based meats can help reduce the risk of foodborne illness, like E. coli, that accompanies the traditional meat industry,” Hultin says. There is also the technical possibility of fortifying or improving it in various ways, like increasing various nutrients or reducing otherwise unavoidable downsides like saturated fat.

And chicken, of course, is just the beginning. “We’re also working on other types of meat, including cultivated beef using cells from California pasture-raised cattle and Wagyu from the Toriyama Farm in Japan,” Noyes says.

Culture Shock

The biggest challenge facing companies like Good Meat may just be convincing people to try its products at all.

A 2021 study in the Quest International Journal of Medical and Health Sciences

showed, unsurprisingly, that people are reluctant to trade traditional meat for the cell-cultured variety. “It has been an expensive and time-intensive endeavor to bring into the food system,” Hultin says. “It’s currently unclear if there will be general consumer demand.”

Beyond garden-variety squeamishness are ethical and religious questions. “From kosher to halal to even veganism, how will these dietary laws and values accept or regulate tissue that comes from the cells of an animal?” Hultin asks.

Inroads certainly won’t be made for practical reasons. In terms of food safety, cultured meat shares many of the same drawbacks as meat that comes from slaughtered animals.

“[It still] needs to also follow the food safety guidelines similar to meat, tofu and other protein-based products,” says Toby Amidor, an award-winning nutrition expert and author. “You have to keep the meat refrigerated at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below in your home refrigerator … and cook it to the proper minimum internal temperature.”

Making Ends Meat

So what’s the hook here? Some consumers may be tempted by the novelty of cultured meat. Or its promise to reduce environmental waste and animal suffering. But it’s not like every vegan on the planet will suddenly find themselves clamoring for cultured meat.

“Cells still need to be harvested from a live or recently deceased animal, so it’s not without the use of animals completely,” Hultin says.

As for all the omnivores who aren’t caught up in the ins and outs of production and ethics, price may prove to be a winning ticket — especially if the efficiencies of cultivation can bring down the cost of premium cuts like Japanese Wagyu.

Until then, just don’t call it “artificial.” As far as officials and producers are concerned, this stuff’s just meat. No bones about it.

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