Every day, a cow releases between 250 and 500 litres of methane from its body – I won’t specify where. That’s a whole kilolitre from just two cows. Before now, I’d never even had to use the word kilolitre. Think this is funny? You shouldn’t.
With one and a half billion cows now populating the planet, daily methane production is over half a trillion litres, just from cattle. Why is this so bad? Because methane is a greenhouse gas, and because even though it accounts for only nine percent of these emissions, each molecule is capable of trapping 100 times more heat than carbon dioxide.
This is just one of the multiple reasons that cows and other livestock are bad for the environment. Animal agriculture consumes vast amounts of water, covers a stupid percentage of land on Earth, and is the leading cause of species extinction and habitat destruction.
In a recent documentary that has gained considerable popularity, all of these issues are highlighted. ‘Cowspiracy’ even has a website containing a multitude of facts that I had to stop reading before I barfed up my beef fajitas…
Unfortunately, just like me, there are many people who just cannot give up their diet of meat and dairy – and yes, to those vegetarians thinking they have a moral high-ground, I’m looking at you too. This could be for many reasons: “bacon is just too delicious”, “a curry isn’t the same with veggies”, “I wouldn’t be able to host my cheese and wine night”, and “yo I need dem gains, init!”
Now I’m not saying we should all transition to a vegan lifestyle. I’m saying we shouldn’t change our eating habits at all. And that’s because of the revolution of producing meat without even the need for farming animals.
In 2008, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced that they would pay one million US dollars to the first scientist who can ‘come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012’. This set the pace for labs worldwide to grow meat synthetically.
Although this deadline has already passed, it is something that is fast becoming a potential alternative to conventionally-sourced meat. This ‘lab meat’ would negate the need for farms stretching acres of land; labs can expand vertically. It would reduce the number of crops wasted from feeding livestock intended to be exported, instead of feeding the hungry in nearby villages. The advantages are endless, not to mention the fact there would be no slaughter.
Shmeat, as it has been regrettably nicknamed by some, is created by taking muscle tissue of the desired animal and isolating muscle stem cells. These can then be stimulated to grow and divide before stimulating them to differentiate into actual muscle cells. The initial division allows the mass of meat to increase; it is theoretically possible to feed 7.3 billion using just one line of stem cells.
Once fused, the stem cells will divide and differentiate into the muscle fibres as a result of cell signalling between neighbours. These are then stretched out and grown under tension to allow them to bulk up – in the same way as working a muscle at the gym. The right nutrients supply the energy required for muscle growth.
So how close are we to an actual sham-burger? Well, it’s already been produced – in fact, it has already been cooked and tasted in our very own London. The beef burger was created by Prof Mark Post and his team at Maastricht University in the Netherlands in 2013, using 20,000 strips of muscle tissue from a cow.
One taster, Hanni Ruetzler, said of it, “it’s close to meat, it’s not that juicy, but the consistency is perfect. This is meat to me…” Missing from the burger is the fat, as it is pure protein; this is something the scientists are working on to achieve even more accuracy.
The 2013 burger reportedly required funding of €250,000. This is certainly not economically viable, but it is certainly improving. Prof Post said in an interview this year that the same beef patty can now be produced for only €8. Personally, I would definitely pay a tenner for the privilege of trying one of the first synthetic burgers.
A huge let down of this technology, though, is that current in vitro meats are only as good as processed meats, such as sausages and burgers. To me that is not yet good enough. I’d love to one day have a bacon butty for breakfast, some chicken wings for lunch, and a monster USDA ribeye steak for tea, all three accompanied by an ethical thumbs up.
One concern of mine would that it may be very easy to grow human flesh for food. Naturally, you’d expect that no one in their right mind would attempt this, and I hope to Science that it never, ever, does. But we must have some policy implemented to prevent that from happening.
What’s worrying is that there is no specific legislation in the UK for eating human flesh! It is classed as illegal if it comes under public indecency – otherwise it is only classed as a crime if it causes bodily harm to a person. Of course, it wouldn’t if the meat is produced by cloning. I truly hope this gap in the law is rectified.
On a more positive note, that thing about the environment might soon be no worry for the nutrition industry. It is estimated that switching from livestock farming to synthetic farming will use 55% of energy, emit 4% of greenhouse gases, and use just 1% of the land. Once we’ve perfected meat, it may well be possible to move onto dairy, sourcing milk and eggs not from cows and chickens, but their laboratory counterparts.
The question is: could all those vegetarians who don’t eat meat for ethical reasons whet their taste buds for a moist, succulent, and morally-sound burger? I can’t wait to find out.
MBBlog 