18th February 2021

 Musings.......

Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft and a philanthropist in his new book “ How to avoid a climate disaster” gives a solution to the impending climate change disaster- Switch to synthetic meat ! 

Synthetic Meat 

Also called lab grown meat/ in vitro meat/ cultured meat is made by growing muscle cells in a nutrient serum and encouraging them into muscle like fibres. 

The same way cells grow in our body to make or regenerate ones body, under laboratory conditions, cells can be grown to make meat. 

Initial few “satellite cells” can be obtained from a sample of muscle taken from a live animal. 

These are stem cells that can be turned to different cells found in muscle. 

Practically speaking one cell can create an infinite amount of meat !  

The final tissue we get after the cell is processed in nutrient serum to form muscle cells and multiplied, is encouraged to form stripes like normal muscle. 

The fibres are then attached to sponge like scaffold that floods the fibres with nutrients and mechanically stretches muscle cells to increase their size and protein content. 

The resultant tissue is then harvested, seasoned, cooked and consumed as boneless processed meat! 

Simpler animal products like artificial milk and hen- free egg white can be grown from Yeast which has been genetically altered to include proteins found in milk and eggs in the right amounts!! 

Does meat industry contribute to Climate change ? 

A UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report in 2013 estimated that total annual emissions from animal agriculture ( production emission plus land use change ) was 14.5 percent of all human emissions of which beef contributed 41 percent in USA. These figures are at par with those of India according to FAO. 

FAO report “ How to feed the world in 2050” predicts that to feed an estimated global population of 9.1 billion people in 2050, meat production would need to increase by 70%. 

WHO estimates that livestock agriculture requires 30% of all land and 70% of all arable land. It also estimates that 15,000 litres of fresh water is required to produce one kilogram of beef. Meat production accounts for at least 15% of all greenhouse gases. 

The big question surrounding us is whether processed meat is viable. 

Right now we know the production costs will be exorbitant. 

However, with growing concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment, and also the Coronavirus Pandemic which supposedly originated from a Seafood Wet Market in Wuhan, China means that - calls for alternatives to regular meat is on the rise. 

Singapore has given a US start up called “Eat Just” the green light to sell lab grown chicken meat in the worlds first regulatory approval for clean meat that don’t come from slaughtered animals. 

Bill Gates in an interview says that he is optimistic that plant based beef replacements can replace meat from actual cattle without lab grown meat taking over the market. 

Bill Gates says the transition has to be gradual and says “ I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef”. 

Our planet don’t have enough land or water to sustain the required increase in production of meat needed to feed the population increase. 

Synthetic Meat will provide the alternative, reducing land and water use as much as 90% even according to some reports, and will reduce methane emissions from cows and sheep. 

While the writer is yet to read Bill Gates book, which is on its way right now from an Amazon order- what one can say with certainty is that Synthetic Meat will be part of the future of mankind and like it or not, all meat eaters will have to brace ourselves for the eventuality. 

Food for Thought.......

RC 

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