Labs or Plants: Which Makes the Best Meat?
In the past year, our consumer research has explored peoples’ perceptions of environmentally sustainable and healthy diets and what they might mean for protein consumption. We’ve also seen an uptick in interest in alternative eating patterns, including a plant-based food diet and the flexitarian diet. These and other alternative eating patterns have led to an increased interest in consuming alternative meat products (e.g., “meat” made from vegetables). Variations of meat alternatives that have been around for years typically use ingredients such as soy, gluten and textured vegetable protein. More unusual alternative ingredients include tempeh, jackfruit, lentils, quinoa, mushrooms and more. What if you could still enjoy animal-based meat products without causing harm to animals and the environment? To meet this desire, food scientists are working to bring cultured meat (also known as “lab meat” because it is produced in a facility) to a grocer or restaurant near you. As consumers are committing to eating healthier—both for themselves and the planet—environmentally sustainable diets consisting of meat alternatives and/or plant-based meat products are becoming increasingly popular. Let’s take a closer look at the latest innovations in alternative protein production. Cell-cultured meat: if you grow it, they will come? Cultured meat goes by many names: cell-based meat, cell-cultured meat, lab-grown meat and “clean” meat. At the end of the day, all these designations refer to the same thing: growing a full piece of meat from animal cells in a lab. As we previously have discussed, these meat cells start from animal stem cells, a specific type of cell that can give rise to many other kinds of cells. After the stem cells are harvested, they are incubated in a nutrient-rich broth. Cells multiply, divide and begin development into muscles cells. After a time, these cells will start to rearrange themselves into small fibers, […]
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