The time of the synthetic hamburger is approaching.
Just two years ago I talked about it here, remember? The forecasts were of a probable entry into the market within 5 years: the main obstacle was the price.
In 2013, making a kilo of “lab-created” meat cost around 620.000 euros. Two years later the price was 85 euros, and today it has dropped to 20 euros.
Production costs are rapidly approaching those that guarantee making their way into the market, and in fact there are many startups working to make the synthetic hamburger (and other products made from animal stem cells).
The global meat industry is a giant worth almost 700 billion euros. Even the prices of "traditional" livestock farms have fallen dramatically for three years now: today a kilo of beef costs around 7 euros, but the gap with synthetic meat is reducing enormously.
In the last two years the number of researchers employed in these projects has doubled, the cost is 30.000 times lower, the completion time is a quarter and the number of products has quintupled: today four companies in California, one in Holland, one in Israel they make animal gelatin, egg white, veal and pork, chicken liver.
The results are surprising: synthetic meat with excellent taste (already two years ago the "plate" tests gave sensational results) obtained without torturing animals.
What ability do stem cells have to produce synthetic meat?
In theory, an enormous capacity: a single cell can give life, by dividing, to 75 "generations" over the course of three months: in other words, a turkey stem cell would be able to transform itself into a quantity of tissue sufficient to create 20 billion of turkey nuggets. Winds. Billions. It's crazy stuff.
Surveys commissioned by companies working in this field reveal that approximately 50% of vegetarians would happily eat synthetic hamburgers and synthetic meat obtained in laboratories in general, thus eliminating the ethical reasons behind this choice.
And the environment?
In vitro meat studies could reduce land abuse by 99% and animal greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90%, according to Hanna Tuomisto, Agronomist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. There are also more skeptical voices, which already warn about possible risks: second Carolyn Mattick from Arizona State University everything will depend on the nutrients used to "feed" the cells and transform them into tissues. The possible use of glucose could paradoxically produce more greenhouse gases than traditional farming, because this ingredient would need to be heated before use.
Who knows if the future will be "bittersweet" giving us meat obtained in special "bioreactors" with no more animal torture, but greater environmental pollution: sometimes all that glitters is not gold.
[note color=”green”]Companies currently producing animal tissue and synthetic meat: Gelcor, San Leandro, California – Perfect Foods, Berkeley, California – Clara Foods, San Francisco – Memphis Meats, San Leandro, California – Mosa Meat, Maastricht, Holland – SuperMeat, Israel[/note]
