Why aren't companies selling slaughter-free meat?

Companies are making meat that doesn't involve killing the animals.

 One of the most important questions facing people right now is how to feed a growing world population that wants more meat without destroying the planet.

The future of food was a big topic at this month's Web Summit in Lisbon, and executives from two companies that grow meat in labs explained in detail why lab-grown meat may be the answer.

Their companies, along with dozens of others, have shown that it is possible to take a small sample of an animal's cells and use that sample to grow meat in a lab without having to raise, rear, or kill the animal.

Nearly ten years ago, the first lab-grown burger was eaten at a press conference in London. This was the first time the process was shown to the whole world.

But since that high-profile event, only one country has let people eat meat grown in a lab: Singapore. In 2020, the country's food agency gave the green light for lab-grown chicken.

If people want to reach the climate goals that are being discussed this week at COP27, the animal agriculture industry will need to be open to new ideas and change.

But Daan Luining, co-founder and CTO of Meatable, a company that grows meat in a lab, said at the Web Summit, "You can't innovate on a cow."

Instead, he wants more help for the growth of innovations in meat that is not killed.

Luining, who has worked in this field for nine years and has a background in cell molecular biology and tissue engineering, helped make the first lab-grown burger in 2013.

His company makes pork mince and is also working on beef mince. They hope to sell their first product in Singapore next year.

People who want lab-grown meat point to three major problems with animal farming that need to be fixed.

First, it has a huge effect on the environment. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, it is responsible for about 14.5% of all carbon emissions (FAO). Beef also puts a strain on the resources that are needed to make it.

For example, the Water Footprint Network says that it takes about 15,000 litres of water and about 25 kilogrammes of dry feed to make one kilogramme of cow's meat.

Some studies have shown that replacing animal meat raised in the traditional way with meat grown in a lab could cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 96%.

Then there's the question of ethics. Every year, about 80 billion animals are killed for food, and many of these animals are kept in bad conditions. Many are not killed in a "humane" way, which the Humane Slaughter Association in the UK defines as "protecting an animal from unnecessary excitement, pain, or suffering."

And third, there is the issue of having enough food. Many countries can't raise enough animals to meet their people's demand for meat because they don't have enough land or natural resources. Instead, they buy meat from other countries.

So, why hasn't cultured meat caught on yet in Europe?

When asked why his company was starting with Singapore, he said, "Because it takes so long, the EU is at the bottom of the list."

"As a new business, we can't do that," he said.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is in charge of regulating the industry, and a new product has to meet a lot of strict rules before it can be sold in the bloc. Luining said that the process involves a lot of back and forth, and he was frustrated that the regulator wasn't being clear.

He said, "They're not very interested in starting a conversation and telling us what they really want from us."

On the other hand, he said that Singaporean authorities "have set up a whole government organ to help us and have been great." "Certainly, the European Union could learn something from this."

The company will find out what Singaporean customers think of its lab-grown meat. Eventually, it will be able to use this information to expand into other markets, like Europe.

For now, that meat is pork mince, which can be used to make sausages or dumplings, among other things.

Because of how technology is right now, most companies in this field are making mince right now.

Ivy Farms, which is based in the UK and makes pork mince, is the same way.

The company's CEO, Richard Dillon, told Euronews Next, "Our technology can tell us which cells we can grow outside of the animal, basically in big fermentation tanks."

"They grow, and as they do, they make copies of themselves." Then we'll have pure muscle and pure fat, which we can combine to make the healthiest mincemeat."

Two of the original co-founders of the company were based at Oxford University.

Dillon said, "They were looking into where there is the most research on the culture of mammals."

"Actually, it's people." But pigs are the mammals that people eat that are most similar to humans in terms of how they are made. "So, it was a very good idea," he said.

"Then, from a business point of view, chicken and pork are the most popular meats in the world." So, just the size of the market and the effects it could have around the world are huge.

But even though there may be a market for farm-raised meat, cost is one of the main things that keeps it from being sold in grocery stores.

Dillon said, "No one has ever grown mammalian cells on the large scale that would be needed to lower the cost of feeding people."

He said that the industry needs to show that it can grow by getting the big tanks and the materials needed to grow cells in them.

"The whole supply chain needs to be rethought in order to get these inputs on a large scale at food-grade prices instead of biopharmaceutical prices."

He said that a lot has changed since the first lab-grown burger was shown to the public. It cost about €250,000 to make that burger.

"We could do the same thing now for less than €100 (less than $100). And the pilot scale is still very small. So, the costs will go down by orders of magnitude over the next two years.