An investigation of In Vitro Meat

As I child, I witnessed the slaughter of a cow in a small family slaughterhouse. It was something I did voluntarily because I wanted to know how the meat that I ate was “produced”. I still vividly remember my amazement when I discovered that a cow’s muscles are still able to contract hours after its death. I can recall the dead cow shivering as if unhindered by death. It was there that I realised how astonishingly banal the divide between life and death actually is.

The experience was very enriching for me and I discovered that there was some deep beauty in the process that I witnessed: the hard work, the calmness and the mutual respect between animal and man; it seemed like a formidable circle of life. As you might understand, this experience had a profound impact on me but did not keep me from continuing to eat meat. It did leave a deep fascination for food as a social (and even spiritual) phenomenon.

Food is an essential part of our lives and drastically influences how we live our lives and also makes up part of our identities. Descartes’ theory of dualism has been greatly dismissed for a long time and scientists now recognise the important interactions between the physical and the mental. I would even say it is of no use distinguishing between the two: we are what we eat. Meat in particular is deeply embedded in most cultures and is also very controversial in the sense that a lot of people have strong opinions about it.

Tranquil farm. Alberta farm. – credit to Anna-Marie

I dived into the topic of food and meat but after informing myself more and more, I realised that there is something seriously wrong with modern meat-consumption. Various scientific reports point out the huge effect the keeping of livestock has on our planet. I will illustrate this with some numbers:

Greenhouse gasses: livestock and their by-products would account for 18-51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions (FAO, 2006 and Worldwatch, 2009). That is more than all forms of transportation combined!

Water: growing feed crops for livestock consumes enormous amounts of water. In the US,  it consumes 56% of the water (Centre for Science in the Public Interest, 2006). It requires a shocking 15,400 litres of water to produce 1 kg of beef (University of Twente, 2012).

Land use: conservative reports estimate that livestock and their feed occupy 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land (FAO, 2006). To illustrate this: animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of Amazone rainforest destruction (World Bank, 2004)

Biodiversity: various reports point out that livestock and the cultivation of feed crops for livestock are the leading course of species extinction, water pollution, ocean dead zones, desertification and habitat destruction (Cowspiracy, 2014)

I have a deep love for this planet and its nature and I was startled when I learnt about these facts. I was also amazed that only so few people are aware of these totally destructive effects of our meat-consumption. This realisation strengthened me in my belief that it is necessary for us to start living more sustainably and ever since I have been trying to figure out how we can accomplish this best.

Tranquil farm. Alberta farm. – credit to Anna-Marie

In my search, I came across the concept of in vitro meat. As I will explain in the next article on this blog, in vitro meat consists of animal cells that are grown into muscle tissue in a bioreactor. The initial cells are taken from living animals and theoretically, this only has to happen once. When these initial cells are placed in a protein-rich environment under optimal conditions, muscle tissue can grow indefinitely without introducing new animal cells.  In vitro consists of exactly the same material as normal meat (muscle tissue cells) and therefore promises to be indistinguishable from normal meat. Potentially, this technology can convert feed into meat far more efficiently than livestock can and emits far less greenhouse gasses. Its water consumption, land use and thus also its impact on biodiversity is also incredibly small compared to livestock-based meat production.

However, there are still a lot of technological challenges to be overcome before in vitro meat can be commercially produced. And maybe the social challenges (i.e. how to embed in vitro meat successfully in society) are even bigger …

In the coming articles, I will elaborate on these challenges and investigate in vitro meat from different perspectives: In general: I want to investigate the real potential of in vitro meat and whether it can actually make a change towards a more sustainable society.
For my investigation, I want to talk to all stakeholders of in vitro meat: consumers, scientists, government officials, food-producing companies.

 

Me, eating an asado (barbecue) in the Chilean mountains last year

So for the coming months, I will be investigating this interesting innovation and I want to do this together with you! If you have a question or a critique, please share it by commenting on this blog. Also, if you want to learn more about a topic related to in vitro meat or a certain aspect of it, please let me know! Then I will try to include it in my investigation. Finally, I would love to hear from you how you like this blog.

Interesting:
– an amusing clip by Arjen Lubach that explains why we should eat less meat (Dutch):
– Cowspiracy: a shocking documentary about the problems with meat-consumption