Farmed meat versus lab-grown alternatives

Precision fermentation will be unlikely to disrupt the livestock industry but may provide high-value products for niche markets, says Prof Paul Wood of Monash University Clayton Campus, in Victoria, Australia.

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"Cell-based meat (CBM) is well perceived only by niche market or animal activist groups. Other drawbacks of these products are the limited data on their long-term human health implications, environmental impact, and obscure risks related to cellular engineering.

CBM products are not identical to the products they aim to replace. First, there is still dissimilarity at the level of sensory, nutritional and textural properties. Second, many societal roles of animal production beyond nutrition can be lost, including ecosystem services, co-product benefits, and contributions to livelihoods and cultural meaning.

Precision fermentation has been used for decades to produce enzymes for cheesemaking or conventional fermentation. Recently, however, companies have used this technology to produce key proteins for the food industry.

Impossible Foods, a company that develops plant-based substitutes for meat products, uses a precision-fermentation form of haemoglobin to give plant-based burgers the look and smell of red meat. The Every Company makes chicken-free egg products using precision fermentation technology. Companies such as All G Foods and Eden Brew are trying to create liquid milk that contains both the whey and casein proteins needed to give this product the full functionality of cow's milk. Fats, sugars, minerals and vitamins must still be added so that these products approach the nutritional content of cow's milk.

As far as meat substitutes go, the envisaged production procedures tend to oversimplify the complexity and growth of skeletal muscle.

HIGH COST OF PRODUCTION