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October 18, 2018 9:48 pm
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Updated on October 18, 2018 at 22:07
In 1931, Winston Churchill had predicted that one day, the human race "would escape the nonsense of raising an entire chicken to eat the breast or wing, producing these pieces separately under a appropriate support ".
87 years later, this day has arrived. That's what we discovered in Just, a food company where we tried nuggets of chicken created from the cells of a chicken feather.
We learned that the chicken (which tastes like chicken) was still alive on a farm near the laboratory.
This meat should not be confused with vegetarian veggie burgers and other meat substitutes that are gaining popularity in supermarkets.
No, it is a real meat produced from animal cells and described in different ways: cultivated meat, synthetic, in vitro, cultured in the laboratory or even "clean".
Churchill said that it was absurd to raise an entire chicken to eat only the breast or the wing, so that humanity would eventually produce these parts separately. (GETTY IMAGES)
It takes about two days to produce a chicken nugget in a small bioreactor, using a protein to stimulate cell multiplication, a support to structure the product and a culture medium to feed the meat during its development. .
The result, according to Just's CEO, Josh Tetrick, will be on the menu of several restaurants later this year.
"We do things like eggs, ice cream, or butter with plants, and we make meat with meat, you do not have to kill the animal," he says. he.
And how do these "nuggets" know?
We tried them and, to tell the truth, it was impressive. The skin was crisp and the meat tasty, though its internal texture was a little sweeter than one would expect from a nuggetfor example, from McDonald's or KFC.
Tetrick and other entrepreneurs working on "cell meat" say they want to end the killing of animals and protect the environment from the degradation of intensive industrial agriculture.
They say that they solve the problem of how to feed a growing population without destroying the planet and point out that their meat It is not genetically modified and does not need antibiotics to grow.
The same goes for the "nuggets" of Just, fresh out of the laboratory.
According to the United Nations, raising animals for food is one of the main causes of global warming and air and water pollution.
Although the conventional livestock industry strives to be more efficient and environmentally friendly, many doubt that it is able to accompany the growing hunger of the world to consume protein.
"We have killed 70 billion animals each year to feed 7 billion people," says Uma Valeti, a cardiologist and founder of Memphis Meats, one of California's largest cell-based meat companies.
Valeti says global demand for meat is doubling as more and more people emerge from poverty and believes that humanity will not be able to raise enough cattle and chickens to meet the demand. appetite of 9,000 million people by 2050.
"So we could literally grow meat, birds or shellfish directly from these animal cells," he says.
Absence of regulation
Many Americans say they eat less meat, but the numbers come from the US Department of Agriculture. (USDA, for its acronym) suggest that the average consumer will still consume more than 100 kg of red meat and poultry this year, about nine kilos more than he had eaten in the 1970s.
Demand for meat products is increasing worldwide.
The pioneer of cellular agriculture is the Dutch scientist Mark Post. Its first laboratory-grown burger, cooked on the grill in 2013, cost $ 300,000.
No company has yet expanded its production to commercially serve a cell-based hamburger, but Post estimates that if she started producing her burgers en masse, she could reduce the cost of production to about US $ 10 each.
"It's too high, of course," he admits.
If Just manages to produce enough chicken nuggets for sale this year, it's unlikely to be in an American restaurant because the country's government is still deciding what to do.
Most foods in the United States are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
But some, especially conventionally raised meats, are regulated by the USDA. So, if we buy a frozen pizza in the United States, the USDA is responsible for the pepperoni and the FDA for the cheese.
The main ingredient of the pizza will determine the body that will regulate its revision and marketing in the United States. (GETTY IMAGES)
"We are talking about several countries in Asia and Europe," said Tetrick. According to him, "US regulations are unclear," while the USDA and the FDA hold public hearings on the subject.
"I think some countries want to take the lead in this area, either because of food shortages, sustainability issues or simply to build a totally new economy, they want to take the initiative to do," said Tetrick .
The ultimate goal is to move the laboratory's cell meat to large manufacturing plants.
At present, dozens of companies are working in the region and they are attracting venture capital investments via Silicon Valley. Billionaires like Bill Gates and Richard Branson have invested in technology.
What do farmers think?
The Cattlemen's Association has a lobby or a major lobby group and, without a doubt, there is no more revered or romantic symbol in the country's history than the classic cowboy or cowboy.
But Midwestern farmers are entering the debate about how this new product will be sold: clean meat, cell meat, meat without animal sacrifice, ethical protein or just meat?
On her ranch located in Ozarks, a mountainous region that stretches from Missouri to Arkansas, Kalena and Billy Bruce feed their herds of black Angus cows with the help of their four-year-old daughter Willa. years.
Kalena and Billy Bruce believe that this meat must indicate on its label that it comes from a laboratory.
"I think it should be labeled correctly: a protein produced in the laboratory," says Billy. "When I think of meat, I think of what is behind us, in an animal that breathes alive," he adds.
The state of Missouri is in agreement. At the request of farmers, it was decreed that meat tags could only be used on livestock products.
"From the point of view of transparency for consumers, so that they know what they are buying and what they are feeding their families, we think this should be called otherwise", said Kalena.
Lia Biondo, director of policy and advocacy at the American Cattlemen's Association, said she hoped the Missouri law could be replicated in other states.
"We will let these companies decide how to call their products as long as they do not call it meat or beef," he says.
Will he have acceptance?
But, in any case, would anyone really eat it? Lamberts customers, a traditional restaurant in Ozark, it seems we still have to convince them.
"The meat needs to be raised on a farm, in the fields," says Jerry Kimrey, a construction worker.
"I like to know where this product comes from, which is natural and is not processed in the lab," says Professor Ashley Pospisil.
Many people are reluctant to consume this type of meat. (GETTY IMAGES)
"There is something that scares me in the creation of man, we are only causing destruction, I love the idea of God's creation," says Linda Hilburn in eating a steak.
Although she is not the only one to have this idea of "Frankenstein food", as some critics call it; Josh Tetrick insists that cell-based meat is totally free of many animal diseases that undermine the production of traditional meat.
And bet on the human experience in favor of progress.
"At the end of the day, either when we went from the ice picker to the refrigerator, or to kill whales, to refine the oil in kerosene and pass after the kerosene to the light bulb … although the people have first associated the light bulb with the devil … humanity has managed to accept something new ".
"It always happens that way, and if I had to bet, it would also happen with that."
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