What is it?

• Lab-grown meat—also known as cultured, cultivated, cell-based, or clean meat is an alternative to animal farming with advantages such as reducing carbon footprint and the risk of transmitting diseases in animals.
• Rather than being part of a living, breathing, eating and drinking animal, cultivated meat is grown in anything from a test tube to a stainless steel bioreactor.
• Cells are acquired from an animal by harmless biopsy, then placed in a warm, sterile vessel with a solution called a growth medium, containing nutrients including salts, proteins and carbohydrates. Every 24 hours or so, the cells will have doubled.
• Three kinds of cell-lines are critical to recreate meat: fibroblasts — the cells that form connective tissue and collagen — myoblasts, which form muscles and adipocytes, which make up fat tissue.

The need

• According to the Good Food Institute (GFI)’s 2019 State of the Industry Report on cultivated meats, compared to conventional beef, cultivated beef could reduce land use by more than 95%, climate change emissions by 74-87% and nutrient pollution by 94%.
• The report adds that since cultivated meat is created in clean facilities, the risk of contamination by pathogens such as salmonella and E coli, which may be present in traditional slaughterhouses and meat-packing factories, is significantly reduced.
• It does not require antibiotics either, unlike animals raised for meat, thereby reducing the threat posed to public health by growing antibiotic resistance.
• Lab-grown meat consumes far less energy, land, and water. It is considered to be relatively cruelty-free and environmentally conscious.
• Lab-grown meat evades zoonotic diseases. Livestock grown in confined spaces are susceptible to outbreaks such as influenza. Lab-grown meat is safe from these zoonotic diseases plaguing the animals and the antibiotics that are given to them.
• Possibility of altering the nutritional contents of cultured meat according to the necessary requirements. This type of meat is often called designer meat. The fat content in the meat can be controlled by adjusting the growth medium. The amount of saturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids can be modified as well. unhealthy fats in meat can be replaced with healthy and essential fats such as omega-3 fatty acids.

Disadvantages

• To cultivate cell-based meat, animal cells are fed animal serum to help them grow and proliferate.  The current medium being used contains Fetal Bovine Serum. This serum is obtained from the blood of a dead calf which is not only expensive but also contradicts the slaughter-free label of the lab-grown meat.
• Researchers are yet to develop a true muscle with its organized blood vessels, connective tissues, and nerves. This makes it difficult for the lab-grown meat to provide the meat-eaters with the options of various cuts and animal muscles. The original taste and flavor of the conventional meat along with the diversity of animal species and breeds cannot be replicated in lab-grown meat yet.
• One potential health concern that stands out is the cancer-promoting properties of cells that proliferate exponentially in vitro. Consuming lab-grown meat with such faulty cell lines may have unwarranted effects on the human body, the exact effects remain unknown.   

Additional information

• How is lab-grown or cultured meat different from plant-based meat?

• The latter is made from plant sources such as soy or pea protein, while cultured meat is grown directly from cells in a laboratory. Both have the same objective: to offer alternatives to traditional meat products that could feed a lot more people, reduce the threat of zoonotic diseases, and mitigate the environmental impact of meat consumption.
• In terms of cellular structure, cultured or cultivated meat is the same as conventional meat — except that cultured meat does not come directly from animals.

• Recently, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) approved the sale of a lab-grown meat product. This is the first time cultured meat has been cleared for sale anywhere in the world.

• India and the meat Industry

• India ranks third in production of eggs and eight in meat production in the world, said The Economic Survey 2021-22 .
• Meat production in the country has increased from 6.69 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 8.80 million tonnes in 2020-21
• India is the largest producer of buffalo meat and 2nd largest producer of goat meat.
• The largest producer of meat in the country is Uttar Pradesh producing 23% of the total meat followed by West Bengal contributing 12% to the meat production.
• India has the world’s largest population of livestock(cattle and buffalo).

• Recently, scientists started using a delicately tuned pulsed magnetic field to culture myogenic stem cells, which are found in skeletal muscle and bone marrow tissue. It may one day replace the need for Foetal Bovine Serum In the production of cultured meat.

References:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/lab-grown-meat-cleared-in-singapore-emerging-alternative-worldwide-7092214/
2. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/indian-start-ups-look-to-the-lab-for-the-future-of-meat/article66010671.ece
3. https://www.mofpi.gov.in/sites/default/files/OpportunityinMeat%26PoultrysectorinIndia.pdf
4. https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/policy/india-ranks-third-in-egg-eighth-in-meat-production-economic-survey-2021-22/articleshow/89250099.cms
5. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-scientists-technique-meat-lab-magnetic.html