This piece of chicken was grown in a lab
and it tastes like chicken,
and it doesn't look much different than regular chicken.
This chicken was grown from a cell of an actual
hen and cultivated in the lab until it grew into this, edible meat.
You'll actually be able to eat it as soon as this year.
That's because the FDA has approved it as safe product for consumers to eat.
But before we all get a taste, I want to know,
will it be hard to convince people to bite into cultivated meat.
Is it expensive?
Most importantly,
is it truly a sustainable alternative to industrial meat production?
Let's find out.
On this episode of 'Can it Save the Planet', I'm visiting the Upside Foods
headquarters and interviewing the company's CEO, Uma Valeti.
To learn more about producing lab grown meat, its impacts on the climate,
its limitations- I think you should be able to say this is chicken, this is real.
There's just no question about it.
And ultimately,
find out if cultivated meat can save the planet presented by Astral Tequila.
Let's start with
why lab grown meat exist and why it's having its moment.
Lab grown meat or cultivated meat as it's being labeled,
has gained popularity as a sustainable alternative to industrial
livestock farming, which is one of the top emitters of greenhouse gas emissions.
In fact, the agricultural sector accounts for approximately a quarter of global
greenhouse gas emissions.
Lab-grown meat could also stem the demand for traditional meat production, which,
according to WWF, is the main driver of deforestation in places like the Amazon.
In May 2022, a study projected that if we replace about 20% of global
beef consumption with a meat alternative known as microbial protein
over the course of the next 30 years, we could cut deforestation in half.
This suggests that switching to lab produced meat could reach
similar benefits.
The other thing making Lab-grown meat popular is that its produce
without having to slaughter billions of chickens and millions of cows a year.
Vegans might also appreciate it, depending on where they fall with their ethics.
There are no animals dying here.
But let's focus on the sustainability part.
According to the Journal of Sustainability,
Livestock Farming accounts for 16.5%
to 28% of all greenhouse gas pollution.
Lab-grown meat is supposed to reduce that number.
But by how much?
Well, it could be as much as 87% to 96%.
Now those optimal percentage reductions come from two separate studies
that compared lab-grown meat with beef and beef pork and sheep meat respectively.
Each study also compared the use of land, water and energy
between lab produced meat and livestock meat production.
In one study, water and land usage saw drastic reductions from lab grown
meat production, with 96% less water use and 90% less land use.
However, when it comes to energy demand, once studies show that lab grown meat
actually used 35% more industrial energy than conventional farmed beef.
To learn more.
I'm at an actual lab where they grow chicken meat,
chicken from upside foods, which has been approved by the FDA.
And it's just waiting on one final approval from the USDA
before it's sold in stores.
Uma Valenti is the CEO here at the Upside Foods headquarters in Berkeley.
A cardiologist turned entrepreneur Uma believes in what they still call
farming meat that is safe, healthy, and sustainable.
What we do with cultivated meat
is we take real healthy chicken cells from either eggs
or birds like a chicken that's grown up We don't have to kill the chicken for it.
That's the beauty.
Take a few cells and let the cells grow outside the chicken
in very similar containers like this.
We feed them with nutrients that are very clean.
And things that we are very familiar with, like fats
and sugars and proteins and vitamins and minerals.
If you're thinking
this place looks like a brewery, that's because it's a similar process.
But instead of growing yeast, it's chicken.
Well, a form of chicken.
In the early days, it looks very like they're just basically cells floating in
fluid as more and more cells get in there it gets thicker and thicker and thicker.
Once we harvest will decrease
and then it
becomes like a form of tissue that is like much more texturized much more tougher.
Uma says it takes about two to three weeks to grow and harvest the chicken.
Compare that with what it takes for a cow to go to slaughter.
It takes two years for a cow
or nine months for a pig and three months for a chicken.
We can grow the same amount of meat and in two to three weeks.
We use drastically less resources less water,
less nutrients, less greenhouse gas emissions.
That's one concern.
The other is safety. But upset foods.
We didn't have received FDA approval, If this chicken wasn't safe to eat.
Never have to deal with salmonella because we don't have animal feces
in the facility.
That's where ecoli salmonella comes from.
Yeah. Right.
So what we are careful about is, you know, bacteria
from our body being introduced or someone not cleaning the tank properly.
And those are quality control procedures that are very well established.
I couldn't leave the premises without trying the chicken myself.
So we went into the test kitchen
for a cooking demo and to continue my chat with Uma.
What should I be looking for in texture,
taste with this particular cultivated meat?
When you bite, you should actually feel the fibers that you are.
That is that you have to chew into them.
It just is not soft.
You have to chew them like what your real meat is.
And some of the fibers as you chew get stuck in your teeth.
That's what really meat does as it was being cut.
There's no doubt about it.
It looks like chicken and it even smells like chicken.
However, it won't cost the same as the chicken you currently buy at the market.
It's expensive to do it.
And then the feed we use to grow the chicken is very expensive.
And when we start building production facilities like this,
at scale, that's expensive to build. So
cost is a hurdle,
Uma said upon entering the market, cultivated chicken could cost
similar to what organic is or a little bit higher than organic,
but it will eventually level out in the next five to ten years.
Now, the other potential hurdle is adoption rates.
Yes. 90% of all the 96% of the world is meat eaters.
All our studies are showing that there's a very high rate
of adoption, and expectation for this to hit the market to get to market,
especially if you look at my kids or the Gen Z or millennials right,
they love the opportunity to be able to go and buy cultivated meat like that.
When can I buy it?
I for one am very excited to buy it.
But for now I'll settle with the cultivated chicken filet.
Upset food's prepared for me.
First of all,
its great.
Love how is was prepared.
It is different texture. I will say that.
Can I technically eat this raw?
We believe
technically because it's not growing and it doesn't have a salmonella.
Whether you worry about it, doesn't have the E.coli you worry about.
Chicken is generally not eaten raw, but we haven't tried it yet.
By the time that you got the USDA approval,
when will people purchase this and cook it at home?
Because our production capacity is still small in the big scheme of things.
We are going to start out with selling in restaurants
and we are working with a number of chefs.
Hopefully this year.
When we can start producing millions to tens of millions of pounds,
that's when we start saying we can supply to like a grocery store,
rather it safeway or a Whole Foods or something like that.
I think that's after 2025.
That's so soon. I'm already looking forward
to other people trying it and hearing their thoughts.
All right.
So let's recap what we've learned so far.
Number one, some studies have shown that overall lab-grown Meat has a smaller
environmental impact in livestock farming and industrial meat production.
Number two, the lab-grown meat industry will struggle convincing the masses
that it's a good alternative when it comes to taste, texture and experience.
But overall, people are excited.
And number three,
it's expected to be more expensive than traditional meat upon entry market.
Perhaps having similar pricing to organic foods,
which means it might not be the most accessible but over time, It will.
So can lab grown meat see save the planet? Yes.
There are several studies suggesting it can.
Even the IPCC report from 2022 says cultivated meat
could help reduce the global emissions of food production.
But of course there's an asterisk to the solution.
For starters, there's debate around the processes, energy efficiency and impact.
With some experts
arguing that lab based chicken production actually has the higher carbon footprint
of conventionally farmed chicken and other plant based processed meats.
Also, skepticism around this new meat from vegan and vegetarian communities
asking you if it's ethical.
To people who rely on traditional meat for dietary or cultural reasons.
Then there's the concern for jobs.
According to one study that looked at the impact
of the meat alternative market on the U.S.
cattle farming and meat
processing industry, when 1.5 million jobs could be threatened.
Yet there's a lot of investment in this sector.
According to one estimate, the meat alternative and plant based
protein markets are projected to be worth as much as $85 billion by 2030.
And Upside food isn't the only pioneer in the space.
There are other companies also working on getting FDA approval there's good meat,
which produces plant based eggs called Spirit Chicken Sci Fi Foods,
which is working on producing lab grown beef patties and future meat technologies.
Just to name a few.
There are also companies trying to cultivate fish like Blue Nalu,
which is growing Pacific Bluefin tuna.
And it's not just in the U.S. where it's being produced.
There's a company in Germany cultivating lack of fish as Singapore
has been serving and selling consumers lab-grown meat for a couple of years now.
From what I can discern, it seems very promising.
And there are a number of studies out there that suggest
there is a huge potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
and saving land from deforestation.
For now, it's good and it tastes good.
As you can see, I cleared my plate throughout filming this, but would you try it?