Is Lab-Grown Meat The Answer To Our Meat Eating Problems?

The sad truth is that we have a meat problem. We raise BILLIONS of animals every year, and for many of them, the conditions are pretty terrible. And the whole process is a big contributor to climate change. New food technology now exists where instead of growing the entire animal, lab-grown meat allows you to only grow what you’re going to eat, and that happens with cells. Join Myles in exploring the cell-to-table process of lab-grown meat and the potential impacts it can have on the environment and the global food industry.  Will lab-grown meat help solve the environmental impacts of our meat-eating society?

TEACHERS: Bring Above the Noise into your middle or high school classroom with free lesson plans, viewing guides, transcripts, and more for all episodes on PBS Learning Media.

What is lab-grown meat and how is it made?

Instead of growing the entire animal, lab-grown meat allows you to only grow what you’re going to eat, and that happens with cells. Food scientists grab some cells from the animal through a tissue biopsy and then isolate and separate out the specific cells that they want. Then, they immerse those cells in a nutrient broth and that gives them all the nourishment that they need to grow and survive. They’re housed in what’s called the bioreactor. The bioreactor controls all of the environmental conditions to facilitate and promote their growth. So as the cells grow in the bioreactor, they get to larger and larger numbers, and you can achieve almost an infinite number of cells from this process. Then, scientists separate the cells from the broth and form a 3D shape that looks similar to a cut of meat, and that is what you eat on your plate.

What’s the point of growing meat in a lab?

We have a meat problem. We raise BILLIONS of animals every year, and for many of them, the conditions are pretty terrible. And the whole process is a big contributor to climate change in 3 big ways. Number 1 is land use and carbon dioxide. The earth’s surface is mostly water, and only a fraction of the land can be used to grow food. Most of that land is either grazing land for animals or land used to grow food to feed the animals. We’re actually cutting down forests to make more space so we can eat MORE meat. And that’s a problem because trees capture CO2, which is a significant contributor to climate change. So, the more we eat meat, the fewer trees grow, and more CO2 escapes into the atmosphere. Number 2 is fresh water. Raising animals for meat takes a lot of fresh water – and that’s a finite resource. That means we can run out. Pound-for-pound, raising meat takes a lot more water to grow than a non-meat source of protein like soy. Number 3 is greenhouse gasses coming from the animals themselves. They’re constantly emitting carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, both of which contribute to climate change. Cattle are the worst, because, well, cow burps! Each year, a single cow will belch about 220 pounds of methane, which doesn’t stay in the atmosphere as long as CO2, but is much worse when it comes to warming the atmosphere.

SOURCES

6 Pressing Questions About Beef and Climate Change, Answered

https://www.wri.org/insights/6-pressing-questions-about-beef-and-climate-change-answered

This article from the World Resources Institute explores the connection between beef production and climate change.

Breakdown of global land use today

https://ourworldindata.org/land-use

These series of interactive charts, maps and graphs from Our World in Data help visualize global land use patterns over time.

Fact check: How bad is eating meat for the climate?

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-eating-meat-bad-for-the-environment/a-63595148

This article from Deutsche Welle explains how producing and eating meat impacts the environment and climate change.

Cultivated meat: Out of the lab, into the frying pan

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/cultivated-meat-out-of-the-lab-into-the-frying-pan

This article from Mckinsey and Company explores what cultivated meat is, how it is created and the potential impacts it can have on the global food industry.

Beef: The “King” of the Big Water Footprints

https://www.watercalculator.org/news/articles/beef-king-big-water-footprints/

This article from Water Footprint Calculator explains how meat production impacts water usage and provides detailed calculations showing in what ways water is used.

Cows and climate change

https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/making-cattle-more-sustainable

This article from UC Davis explores how cattle impact climate change and some solutions for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions to be more sustainable.