LAB-GROWN MEAT EXPLAINED
Would you eat chicken or beef that’s been grown in a laboratory?
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
A nugget made from lab-grown chicken meat, made in Singapore in 2020
Could lab-grown meat be the compromise that settles the conflict between meat-eaters and vegetarians? For more than 2.5 million years humans have feasted on the flesh of other animals. During this time, the world’s agriculture industry has boomed, with 26 per cent of Earth’s ice-free land dedicated to livestock, which comes at a cost to the environment. On average, the livestock industry is responsible for around 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
To help minimise environmental impact and reduce the space needed to house livestock, scientists have started growing food far from the fields, inside their laboratories. In the same way that farmers grow and nurture livestock from calves and chicks, scientists care for a collection of tiny cells that have been extracted from the genuine article without the need to slaughter a living animal.