The bleeding edge of cultivated meat
Hello to all! Welcome to the RMSBC Blog. I’m Bec, a research scientist and biotechnology consultant with a mission to help the world’s inhabitants, large and small. I’ve been focused on developing sustainable food production systems through cellular agriculture and I hope to share some insights through this blog series.
I wanted to start with a topic I am passionate about and one that I think needs a lot more discussion, so please comment, share and let’s talk about it!
Cultivated meat has the potential to change the world for real. If mainstream it’ll save animals, the environment and us from some otherwise dire situations. When biology and technology have partnered up in the past, we’ve been rewarded in the fields of medical devices, biofuels, gene therapy, vaccines and more. Cultivated meat is no exception and can help alleviate the need for animal rearing to feed the world.
As with most things, the higher the reward… the higher the risk.
Cue the doomsday music*
Last night I started watching the Bleeding Edge on Netflix, it’s a documentary about patient experiences with a permanent contraceptive device throughout clinical trials. Aside from not being able to make it past the first 20 minutes from shrieking and squirming in my seat, it exposed the very real situation of biotechnology failing and impacting good-willed people’s lives for worse.
Ultimately, the people scanning cultivated meat in their grocery basket in the year 2123 will likely be doing so because of a farmed meat shortage. At a certain point, we’ll realise that there is no planet B when we run out of space on Earth to farm animals for food. After a few zoonotic pandemics, natural disasters and market drift, farmed meat will just get more expensive and harder to find.
Similarly to how the women who went to the doctor were seeking the permanent contraceptive Essure out of necessity, anyone buying cultivated meat will be wanting to consume it and get from it a nutrient-dense meal. Neither of these consumers want it to end badly, the women weren’t so lucky. My network is mostly cultivated meat scientists, engineers, thought leaders and investors, and to me it is clear that it is our responsibility that we don’t create the ‘Essure’ of cultivated meat. The future of food security depends on us.
There are certainly risks associated with bringing cultivated meat to future generations, so we need to get it right the first time. The challenge is that we still don’t know the best way to do it because the technology is still in its infancy.
Before celebrating the monumental win that cultivated meat will be for the world, there are (more than) a few questions that need answering.
Which cells are safe and nutritious to eat? Are any cells unsafe?
Are there unique health risks associated with long-term consumption of cultivated meat, compared to farmed meat?
Is it safe for infants to eat cultivated meat?
Are recombinant growth factors safe to eat?
Should we be concerned about allergens in cultivated meat and biomaterials or scaffolding used in production?
Is cultivated meat dangerous to people with Alpha-gal syndrome?
Is the low-microbial presence of cultivated meat beneficial, or should we add microbes to cultivate products for our microbiome?
It's a chicken and egg situation. Products must be available for us to test out safety parameters. Safety parameters need to be outlined before products are widely available. Regulatory bodies are putting forward their best recommendations with all available information, but we are all lacking the answers to a lot of these questions.
Cultivated meat should be nutritionally the same as farmed meat since it's made of the same cells. However, to speed up its development, researchers and companies are experimenting with microcarriers, biomaterials, electrospun fibers, plant-based and fungi-based scaffolds as well as manipulating the growth media ingredients. These new strategies introduce variables not found in farmed meat, complicating food safety and regulation. Early cultivated meat products will shape the future perception of identical meat products, but more work is needed to achieve them.
It’s so important that we discuss the potential benefits and risks of cultivated meat… after all it has the potential to alleviate the need for animal rearing to feed the world. However, there are still many questions that need to be answered regarding the safety and nutritional value of cultivated meat, as well as the potential risks associated with its production. This responsibility falls on scientists, engineers, nutritionists, and public health specialists, as well as executives and investors who are driving these companies forward to ensure that cultivated meat is safe and beneficial for consumption.
It is our responsibility to ensure the best outcomes for food safety in order to prevent a repeat of the Essure saga.
I’m excited to see this topic discussed more and will be looking forward to hearing what the FAO/WHO have to say about it at the FAO/WHO webinar.
