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Concept
Cultured meat
Summary
Cultured meat (also known as cultivated meat among other names) is a form of cellular agriculture where meat is produced by culturing animal cells in vitro.
Cultured meat is produced using tissue engineering techniques pioneered in regenerative medicine. Jason Matheny popularized the concept in the early 2000s after he co-authored a paper on cultured meat production and created New Harvest, the world's first nonprofit organization dedicated to in-vitro meat research.
Cultured meat has the potential to address the environmental impact of meat production, animal welfare, food security and human health, in addition to its potential mitigation of climate change.
In 2013, Mark Post created a hamburger patty made from tissue grown outside of an animal. Since then, other cultured meat prototypes have gained media attention: SuperMeat opened a farm-to-fork restaurant called "The Chicken" in Tel Aviv to test consumer reaction to its "Chicken" burger, while the "world's first commercial sale of cell-cultured meat" occurred in December 2020 at Singapore restaurant 1880, where cultured meat manufactured by US firm Eat Just was sold.
While most efforts focus on common meats such as pork, beef, and chicken which constitute the bulk of consumption in developed countries, companies such as Orbillion Bio focused on high-end or unusual meats including elk, lamb, bison, and Wagyu beef. Avant Meats brought cultured grouper to market in 2021, while other companies have pursued different species of fish and other seafood.
The production process is constantly evolving, driven by companies and research institutions. The applications for cultured meat led to ethical, health, environmental, cultural, and economic discussions. Data published by the non-governmental organization Good Food Institute found that in 2021 cultivated meat companies attracted $140 million in Europe. Cultured meat is mass-produced in Israel. The first restaurant to serve cultured meat opened in Singapore in 2021.
Cultured meat is not yet widely available.
Official source
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