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Tag: cultivated meat

  • Chemical Safety, Cultivated Meat, and Our Health  | NutritionFacts.org

    More than 95 percent of human exposure to industrial pollutants like dioxins and PCBs comes from fish, other meat, and dairy.

    By cultivating muscle meat directly, without associated organs like intestines, the incidence of foodborne diseases “could be significantly reduced,” as could exposure to antibiotics, “pesticides, arsenic, dioxins, and hormones associated with conventional meat.” Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved seven hormone drugs to bulk up the production of milk and meat. “In the European Union, there exists a total ban on such use,” however. Even without injected hormones, though, animal products naturally have hormones because they come from animals. “Eggs, example given, contribute more to the dietary intake of estradiol [estrogens] than beef, whether the animal is legally treated with hormones or not.” After all, eggs come straight from a hen’s ovaries, so, of course, they’re swimming with hormones. But if you’re directly growing just muscle meat or egg white protein, you don’t need to include reproductive organs, adrenal glands, or any of the associated hormones.

    “Chemical safety is another concern for meat produced under current production systems.” There are chemical toxicants and industrial pollutants that build up in the food chain, such as pesticides, PCBs, heavy metals, and flame retardants, but there is no food chain with cultivated meat. We could produce all the tuna we wanted, with zero mercury.

    When the World Health Organization determined that processed meat was a known human carcinogen and unprocessed meat a probable human carcinogen, it wasn’t even talking about the carcinogenic environmental pollutants. When researchers tested retail meat for the presence of “33 chemicals with calculated carcinogenic potential,” like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides like DDT, and dioxin-like PCBs, they concluded that, in order to reduce the risk of cancer, we should limit beef, pork, or chicken consumption to a maximum of five servings a month.

    Why cultivate meat at all when you can just buy organic? Surprisingly, “consumption of organic meat does not diminish the carcinogenic potential associated with the intake of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).” A number of studies have recently compared the presence of environmental contaminants in organic meat versus conventional meat, and the researchers found, surprisingly, that organic meat was sometimes more contaminated. Not only organic beef either. Higher levels were also found in pork and poultry.

    If you look at the micropollutants and chemical residues in both organic and conventional meat, several environmental contaminants, including dioxins, PCBs, lead, and arsenic, were measured at signicantly higher levels in the organic samples. As you can see below and at 2:56 in my video, The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Chemical Safety, the green is organic meat, and the blue is conventional. 

    Cooking helps to draw off some of the fat where the PCBs are concentrated, as shown here and at 3:01.

    Seafood seems to be an exception. Steaming, for example, generally increases contaminant levels, increasing contaminant exposure and concentrating mercury levels as much as 47 percent, as you can see here and at 3:15 in my video. Better not to have toxic buildup in the first place.

    More than 95 percent of human exposure to industrial pollutants like dioxins and PCBs comes from foods like meat, including fatty fish, and dairy, but the pollutants don’t appear magically. The only way the chicken, fish, and other meat lead to human exposure is because the animals themselves built up a lifetime of exposure in our polluted world, from incinerators, power plants, sewer sludge, and on and on, as you can see here and at 3:40 in my video.

    Unlike conventional meat production, a slaughter-free harvest would not only mean no more infected animals, but no more contaminated animals either. In terms of pollutants, it would be like taking a time machine back before the Industrial Revolution.

    Doctor’s Note:

    Cultivated meat means less contamination with fecal residues, toxic pollutants, antibiotics, and hormones; up to 99 percent less environmental impact; and zero pandemic risk. Cultivated meat allows people to have their meat and eat it, too, without affecting the rest of us.

    This is the final video in this cultivated meat series. If you missed the first two, check out the videos on Food Safety and Antibiotic Resistance.

    I previously did a video series on plant-based meats; see the related posts below.

    All videos in the plant-based meat series are also available in a digital download from a webinar I did. SeeThe Human Health Implications of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat for Pandemic Prevention and Climate Mitigation.

    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • Antibiotic Resistance, Cultivated Meat, and Our Health  | NutritionFacts.org

    Medically important antibiotics are being squandered by animal agriculture to compensate for typical factory farming practices.

    Cultivating muscle meat directly from cells instead of raising and slaughtering animals would reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses “due to fecal contamination during slaughtering and evisceration of carcasses” because there would be no feces, no slaughter, and no carcasses to eviscerate. In addition, cultivating meat would also reduce the threat from antibiotic resistance.

    To compensate for overcrowded, stressful, and unhygienic conditions on factory farms, animals are typically dosed en masse with antibiotics. A lot of antibiotics. About 20 million pounds of medically important antibiotics a year, as you can see here and at 0:57 in my video, The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Antibiotic Resistance. 

    In the United States, for example, farm animals are given about 2 million pounds of penicillin drugs and 15 million pounds of tetracyclines annually. This is madness. 

    Antibiotic drugs important to human medicine go right into the feed and water of animals like cows, pigs, and chickens, by the ton and by the thousands of tons, as shown below and at 1:02 in my video. And that is all without a prescription.

    Ninety-seven percent of the tens of millions of pounds of antibiotics given to farm animals in the United States are bought over the counter—without a prescription or even an order from a veterinarian, as seen here and a 1:24. To get even a few milligrams of penicillin, we need a doctor’s prescription, because these are miracle wonder drugs that can’t be squandered. Meanwhile, farmers can just back their trucks up to the feedstore. 

    Now, half the Salmonella in retail meat—chicken, turkey, beef, and pork—is resistant to tetracycline, as shown below and at 1:50 in my video. About a quarter of the bugs are now resistant to three or more entire classes of antibiotics, including some resistant to “cephalosporins such as ceftriaxone [which] are critically important drugs we use to treat severe Salmonella infections, especially in children.” 

    Such agricultural applications for antimicrobials are now considered an “urgent threat to human health.” “The link between antibiotic use in animals and antibiotic resistance in humans is unequivocal.”

    As shown here and at 2:20 in my video, it all starts with the poop. 

    Antibiotic-resistant bugs are selected for and then can spread via meat or produce contaminated by poop or they can spread through the wind, the air, or the water, or be carried by insects. There are many pathways by which resistant superbugs can escape. So, even if you don’t eat meat, you can be “put at risk by the pathogens released from stressed, immunocompromised, contaminant-filled livestock” dosed with antibiotics. That’s one of the reasons the American Public Health Association called for a moratorium on factory farms, due in part to all the pollution from concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs) to the surrounding communities. 

    Every year, more than five tons of animal manure are produced for every man, woman, and child in the United States. Again, it all starts with the poop. But cultivated meat means no guts, no poop, no fecal infections, and no antibiotics necessary. It also means no fecal or antibiotic residues left in “foodstuffs such as milk, egg, and meat” that can potentially cause a variety of side effects beyond just the transfer of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to humans.

    And, as you can see here and at 3:30 in my video, things are getting worse, not better. U.S. animal agriculture is using more antibiotics now than ever.

    This isn’t only because more animals are being raised for food, either. Antibiotic sales in the United States are outpacing meat production. Yes, meat production is going up, but there is a serious rise in antibiotic sales for meat production, as shown below and at 3:46.

    With the combined might of Big Ag and Big Pharma (who profit from selling all the drugs), it’s hard to imagine anything changing on the political side. The only hope may be a change in the production side.

    “The unstoppable rise of super-resistant strains of bacteria is a serious worldwide problem, resulting in 700 000 deaths every year,” and the projections for global antibiotic use in the production of farm animals are “ominous,” estimated to exceed 100,000 tons of antibiotics pumped into animals raised for food by 2030. Quite simply, we may be “on the path to untreatable infections” by using even some of our “last resort antibiotics,” like carbapenems, just to shave a few cents off a pound of meat.

    And it’s not just foodborne bacteria. Mad cow disease, swine flu, and bird flu have the potential to kill millions of people. Skeptical? I’ve got a book for you to read, whose author’s “superb storytelling ability makes every page of the book interesting and fascinating for both specialist and layperson.” (Thanks, Virology Journal, for the wonderful book review and calling my book “a must read.”)

    Given the threat of the chickens coming home to roost, an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health thought that “it is curious, therefore, that changing the way humans treat animals—most basically, ceasing to eat them or, at the very least, radically limiting the quantity of them that are eaten—is largely off the radar as a significant preventative measure. Such a change, if sufficiently adopted or imposed, could still reduce the chances of the much-feared influenza epidemic…Yet humanity does not consider this option.”

    That may be moot, though, because we could cultivate all the chicken we want, without guts or lungs.

    It’s hard to stress the importance of that American Journal of Public Health editorial. As devastating as COVID-19 has been, it may just be a dress rehearsal for an even greater threat waiting in the wings—the wings of chickens.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading candidate for the next pandemic is a bird flu virus known as H7N9, which is a hundred times deadlier than COVID-19. Instead of 1 in 250 patients dying, H7N9 has killed 40 percent of the people it infects.

    The last time a bird flu virus jumped directly to humans and caused a pandemic, it triggered the deadliest plague in human history—the 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million people. That had a 2 percent death rate. What if we had a pandemic infecting billions where death was closer to a flip of a coin?

    The good news is that there is something we can do about it. Just as eliminating the exotic animal trade and live animal markets may go a long way toward preventing the next coronavirus pandemic, reforming the way we raise domestic animals for food may help forestall the next killer flu. The bottom line is that it’s not worth risking the lives of millions of people for the sake of cheaper chicken.

    If you missed the previous video, see The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Food Safety. Up next is The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Chemical Safety. 

    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • Food Safety and Cultivated Meat  | NutritionFacts.org

    What are the direct health implications of making clean meat—that is, meat without animals?

    In a 1932 article in Popular Mechanics entitled “Fifty Years Hence,” Winston Churchill predicted that we would one day “escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.” Indeed, growing meat straight from muscle cells could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 96 percent, lower water usage by as much as 96 percent, and lower land usage by 99 percent.

    If we are to avoid dangerous climate change by the middle of the century, global meat consumption simply cannot continue to rise at the current rate. And there have certainly been initiatives like Meatless Mondays to try to get people to cut down, but so far, “they do not appear to be contributing in any significant way to the translation of the idea of eating less meat into the mainstream.” So, “in the light of people’s continued desire to eat meat, it seems the problems associated with consumption are unlikely to be fully resolved by attitude change. Instead, they must be addressed from an alternate perspective: changing the product.”

    From an environmental standpoint, it seems like a slam dunk. From an animal welfare standpoint, it could get rid of factory farms and slaughter plants for good, and I wouldn’t have to stumble across articles like this in the scientific literature: “Discerning Pig Screams in Production Environments.” I mean, what more do we need to know about modern animal agriculture than the fact that, “in recent years, a number of so-called…‘ag-gag’ laws have been proposed and passed…across the USA,” banning undercover photographing or videotaping inside such operations to keep us all in the dark.

    What about the human health implications of cultivated meat? I get the animal welfare, environment, and food security benefits, but what about “the potential for cultured meat to have health/safety benefits to individual consumers”? Nutritionally, the most important advantage is being able to swap out the type the fat. Right now, producers are growing straight muscle tissue, so it could be marbled with something less harmful than animal fat, though, of course, there’s still animal protein.

    When it comes to health, the biggest, clearest advantage is food safety, reducing the risk of foodborne pathogens. There has been a sixfold increase in food poisoning over the last few decades, with tens of millions “sickened annually by infected food in the United States alone,” including hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of annual deaths. Contaminated meats and other animal products are the most common cause.

    When the cultivated meat industry calls its products clean meat, that’s not just a nod to clean energy. Food-poisoning pathogens like E. coli, Campylobacter, and Salmonella are fecal bacteria. They are a result of fecal contamination. They’re intestinal bugs, so we don’t have to worry about them if we’re making meat without the intestines.

    Yes, there are all sorts of “methods to remove visible fecal contamination” in slaughter plants these days and even experimental imaging technologies designed to detect more “diluted fecal contaminations,” but we are still left at the retail level with about 10 percent of chicken contaminated with Salmonella and 40 percent of retail chicken contaminated with Campylobacter. What’s more, most poultry and about half of retail ground beef and pork chops are contaminated with E. coli, an indicator of fecal residue, as shown here and at 3:47 in my video The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Food Safety. We don’t have to cook the crap out of cultivated meat, though, because there isn’t any crap to begin with.

    Doctor’s Note:

    This is the first in a three-video series on cultivated meat. Stay tuned for The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Antibiotic Resistance and The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Chemical Safety.

    I previously did a video series on plant-based meats. Check them in the related posts below.

    The videos are also all available in a digital download from a webinar I did: The Human Health Implications of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat for Pandemic Prevention and Climate Mitigation.

    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • ‘Lab-grown’ meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

    ‘Lab-grown’ meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

    As Florida’s ban on “lab-grown” meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a last hurrah — at least for now — with a cultivated meat-tasting party in Miami.California-based Upside Foods hosted dozens of guests Thursday evening at a rooftop reception in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood, known for its street art, breweries, nightclubs and trendy restaurants.”This is delicious meat,” Upside Foods CEO and founder Uma Valeti said. “And we just fundamentally believe that people should have a choice to choose what they want to put on their plate.”The U.S. approved the sale of what’s now being called “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured” meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing Upside Foods and another California company, Good Meat, to sell cultivated chicken. Earlier this year, Florida and Alabama banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. Other states and federal lawmakers also are looking to restrict it, arguing the product could hurt farmers and pose a safety risk to the public. While Florida cattle ranchers joined Gov. Ron DeSantis when he signed the ban into law in May, Valeti said Florida officials never reached out to his company before passing the legislation.”It’s pretty clear to us that the governor and the government have been misinformed,” Valeti said. “And all we’re asking for is a chance to have a direct conversation and say, ‘this is proven science, this is proven safety.’”Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special blends of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they’ve grown, they’re formed into cutlets, nuggets and other shapes.Video below: UC Davis in California grows cells to create a meat alternativeChef Mika Leon, owner of Caja Caliente in Coral Gables, prepared the cultivated chicken for Thursday’s event, which invited members of the South Florida public to get their first, and possibly last, taste of cultivated meat before Florida’s ban begins Monday. Leon served chicken tostadas with avocado, chipotle crema and beet sprouts.”When you cook it, it sizzles and cooks just like chicken, which was insane,” Leon said. “And then when you go to eat it, it’s juicy.”Reception guest Alexa Arteaga said she could imagine cultivated meat being a more ethical alternative.”The texture itself is a little bit different, but the taste was really, really good,” Arteaga said. “Like way better than I was expecting.” Another guest, Skyler Myers, agreed about the texture being different when eating a piece of meat by itself but said it just seemed like normal chicken when he ate the tostada.”There’s no difference,” Myers said. “I mean, there’s no way you would ever know.”Besides the ethical issues surrounding the killing of animals, Valeti said cultivated meat avoids many of the health and environmental problems created by the meat industry, such as deforestation, pollution and the spread of disease. He also noted that the meat his company produces is not coming from a lab but from a facility more closely resembling a brewery or a dairy processing plant.”We don’t have any confined animals,” Valeti said. “We just have healthy animal cells that are growing in cultivators.”Video below: Lab-grown meat could have a worse carbon footprint than animal agriculture, UC Davis study from 2023 saysThe restrictions come despite cultivated meat and seafood still being too expensive to reach the market in a meaningful way. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus, but it hasn’t been available at any U.S. grocery stores. Companies have been working to bring down costs by scaling up production, but now they’re also trying to respond to bans with petitions and possible legal action.Sean Edgett, Upside Foods chief legal officer, said the company went through a yearslong process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration before receiving approval. He said those federal regulations should supersede any state bans, which he believes are unconstitutional.”We’re hopeful that if lawmakers can’t change their mind and turn things around back to an avenue of progress that the courts will step in and make that clear,” Edgett said.Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers from a product that only has been around for about a decade.State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted the legislation doesn’t ban research, just the manufacturing and sale of cultivated meat. Collins said safety was his primary motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.”Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” Collins said earlier this year. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed a ton of people across the country with our cattle, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”Valeti isn’t trying to replace any industry, just give people more options, he said.”We want to have multiple choices that feed us,” Valeti said. “Some of those choices are conventional farming. Some of those choices are coming from plant-based foods. And cultivated meat is another solid choice.”

    MIAMI —

    As Florida’s ban on “lab-grown” meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a last hurrah — at least for now — with a cultivated meat-tasting party in Miami.

    California-based Upside Foods hosted dozens of guests Thursday evening at a rooftop reception in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood, known for its street art, breweries, nightclubs and trendy restaurants.

    “This is delicious meat,” Upside Foods CEO and founder Uma Valeti said. “And we just fundamentally believe that people should have a choice to choose what they want to put on their plate.”

    The U.S. approved the sale of what’s now being called “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured” meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing Upside Foods and another California company, Good Meat, to sell cultivated chicken.

    Earlier this year, Florida and Alabama banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. Other states and federal lawmakers also are looking to restrict it, arguing the product could hurt farmers and pose a safety risk to the public.

    While Florida cattle ranchers joined Gov. Ron DeSantis when he signed the ban into law in May, Valeti said Florida officials never reached out to his company before passing the legislation.

    “It’s pretty clear to us that the governor and the government have been misinformed,” Valeti said. “And all we’re asking for is a chance to have a direct conversation and say, ‘this is proven science, this is proven safety.’”

    Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special blends of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they’ve grown, they’re formed into cutlets, nuggets and other shapes.

    Video below: UC Davis in California grows cells to create a meat alternative

    Chef Mika Leon, owner of Caja Caliente in Coral Gables, prepared the cultivated chicken for Thursday’s event, which invited members of the South Florida public to get their first, and possibly last, taste of cultivated meat before Florida’s ban begins Monday. Leon served chicken tostadas with avocado, chipotle crema and beet sprouts.

    “When you cook it, it sizzles and cooks just like chicken, which was insane,” Leon said. “And then when you go to eat it, it’s juicy.”

    Reception guest Alexa Arteaga said she could imagine cultivated meat being a more ethical alternative.

    “The texture itself is a little bit different, but the taste was really, really good,” Arteaga said. “Like way better than I was expecting.”

    Another guest, Skyler Myers, agreed about the texture being different when eating a piece of meat by itself but said it just seemed like normal chicken when he ate the tostada.

    “There’s no difference,” Myers said. “I mean, there’s no way you would ever know.”

    Besides the ethical issues surrounding the killing of animals, Valeti said cultivated meat avoids many of the health and environmental problems created by the meat industry, such as deforestation, pollution and the spread of disease. He also noted that the meat his company produces is not coming from a lab but from a facility more closely resembling a brewery or a dairy processing plant.

    “We don’t have any confined animals,” Valeti said. “We just have healthy animal cells that are growing in cultivators.”

    Video below: Lab-grown meat could have a worse carbon footprint than animal agriculture, UC Davis study from 2023 says

    The restrictions come despite cultivated meat and seafood still being too expensive to reach the market in a meaningful way. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus, but it hasn’t been available at any U.S. grocery stores. Companies have been working to bring down costs by scaling up production, but now they’re also trying to respond to bans with petitions and possible legal action.

    Sean Edgett, Upside Foods chief legal officer, said the company went through a yearslong process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration before receiving approval. He said those federal regulations should supersede any state bans, which he believes are unconstitutional.

    “We’re hopeful that if lawmakers can’t change their mind and turn things around back to an avenue of progress that the courts will step in and make that clear,” Edgett said.

    Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers from a product that only has been around for about a decade.

    State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted the legislation doesn’t ban research, just the manufacturing and sale of cultivated meat. Collins said safety was his primary motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.

    “Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” Collins said earlier this year. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed a ton of people across the country with our cattle, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”

    Valeti isn’t trying to replace any industry, just give people more options, he said.

    “We want to have multiple choices that feed us,” Valeti said. “Some of those choices are conventional farming. Some of those choices are coming from plant-based foods. And cultivated meat is another solid choice.”

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  • DeSantis signs bill banning sales of lab-grown meat in Florida, says ‘elites’ are behind it

    DeSantis signs bill banning sales of lab-grown meat in Florida, says ‘elites’ are behind it

    click to enlarge

    Photo via Gov. Ron DeSantis/Twitter

    Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday banning cultivated or lab-grown meat in Florida, placing it within a conspiracy by global “elites” to destroy agriculture in the interests of fighting climate change.

    During a ceremony in the Hardee County Cattleman’s Arena in Wauchula the governor compared the threat of lab-grown meat to citrus greening and hurricanes.

    “Those are, though, natural disasters — those are acts of God,” he said.

    “What we’re protecting here is the industry against acts of man, against an ideological agenda that wants to finger agriculture as the problem, that views things like raising cattle as destroying our climate,” DeSantis continued.

    “These will be people who will lecture the rest of us about things like global warming — they will say that, you know, you can’t drive an internal combustion engine vehicle, they’ll say that agriculture is bad. Meanwhile, they’re flying to Davos in their private jets and they’re living like they would ever want to live,” the governor added.

    “So, this is really a vision of imposing restrictions on freedoms for everyday people while these elites are effectively pulling the strings, calling the shots, and doing whatever the hell they want to do in their own lives. And we’ve said in Florida, these folks like the World Economic Forum in Davos that they meet and they scheme, those policies are dead on arrival in the state of Florida,” he added.

    DeSantis might easily be considered part of the elite himself, as a Yale- and Harvard Law School-educated governor of the third-largest state who frequently travels by a state-own executive jet and was criticized during his presidential campaign for relying on private rather than commercial jets.

    Dept. of Ag legislation

    The bill (SB 1084) contains a number of programs for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, including provisions allowing members of 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) to get excused absences from schools to attend events.

    It also makes it “unlawful for any person to manufacture for sale, sell, hold or offer for sale, or distribute cultivated meat in this state,” punishable by up to 60 days in jail. Food establishments that sell or serve the stuff are also subject to penalties including loss of commercial licenses.

    The law defines “cultured meat” as “any meat or food product produced from cultured animal cells.” The USDA began authorizing its sale in the United States last June.

    DeSantis waxed indignant about the prospect.

    “They want to basically eliminate meat, they want to eliminate cattle, they want to eliminate chickens, all this stuff, and they want to create protein in laboratories. So, it’s essentially lab-created meat. And their goal is to get to a point where you will not be raising cattle, you will not be developing meat like we’ve being doing for hundreds and hundreds of years in the state of Florida,” he said.

    It’s not a matter of introducing a product to compete in the marketplace “because they (meaning the elites) know that if that was put out there to compete with normal beef they would lose,” DeSantis said. Instead, he continued, they want to phase out meat production.

    “Now, they’re not at the point where they’re going to be able to execute that today, but I think part of being good stewards of these industries, of the state, of the public wellbeing, is to think forward and head off threats before they even come,” DeSantis said.

    “The bill that I’m going to sign today is going to say, basically, take your fake, lab-grown meat elsewhere. We’re not doing that in the state of Florida,” he said.

    Not ‘willy-nilly’

    DeSantis turned his nose up at one suggested solution.

    “They also want you to believe that consuming insects is a, quote, overlooked source of protein and a way to battle climate change. Now, I’m sure they’ll say, hey wait a minute, just hear us out before you say yuck. And to that I say, Florida has heard enough on that.”

    “This is not just being done willy-nilly. They want to do this stuff in a lab to be able to wipe the people sitting here out of business. We will not let that happen in the great state of Florida.”

    Commissioner of Agriculture Wilson Simpson, himself a farmer and developer, noted that Italy has also banned lab-grown meat.

    He praised the bill’s support for youth-agriculture groups, saying, “We need that next generation” in the industry.

    Dale Carlton, president-elect of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, observed that the cattle industry in Florida dates to the 1500s, when the Spanish introduced the animals to Florida. These developed into the “cracker cow,” a hardy breed that served as one of Florida’s chief contributions to the Confederacy during the civil war. Floridians have long held the nickname “crackers” in homage to the sound cattlemen’s whips made.

    As of 2021, agriculture contributed more than $7.7 billion to Florida’s economy, and cattle-raising more than $546 million.

    “Some people think Florida is theme parks, South Beach, and maybe some oranges, but they don’t really understand that, you know, we have one of the top cattle industries in the country,” DeSantis said.

    Sen. Jay Collins of the Tampa Bay region, one of the bill’s sponsors, said his family lost its 3,000-acre farm during the 1980s. “I can’t stand idly by and watch that happen to other people in our great state of Florida,” he said.

    Plant burgers

    DeSantis also took a swipe at plant-based burgers as “less healthy than the actual beef itself … and it doesn’t taste as good.” (That first opinion is supported by an M.D. Anderson Cancer Center report claiming that plant burgers are highly processed and can contain genetically modified foods, while beef is less processed and can be healthy if eaten in moderation.)

    “Whatever floats your boat,” the governor allowed.

    “But what they’re doing with the lab-grown, is what they want to say is this the same as raising cattle and doing it naturally, then there’s no reason that you have this industry. So, it is designed to represent a threat to agriculture as we know it. It is not just about having a product on the market. That’s the first step but they want much more than that. And I think we’re snuffing this out at the beginning,” DeSantis said.

    Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.

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    Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix

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  • SuperMeat’s Forward-Facing LCA Highlights 50% Decrease in Carbon Footprint of Chicken, the Most Efficient Animal Protein

    SuperMeat’s Forward-Facing LCA Highlights 50% Decrease in Carbon Footprint of Chicken, the Most Efficient Animal Protein


    TEL AVIV, Israel, March 20, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    SuperMeat, a food-tech company dedicated to supplying the world with high-quality cultivated meat, today shared industry-first, forward-looking projections for cultivated chicken based on its landmark continuous production process, outperforming the ambitious benchmarks set for conventional chicken at the start of the next decade. 

    The Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) was conducted by CE Delft, an independent sustainability research and consultancy firm, to evaluate the anticipated environmental impact of a large-scale production of SuperMeat’s cultivated chicken, offering a glimpse into the future of sustainable meat production.

    The assessment provides a detailed comparative analysis between SuperMeat’s 100% cultivated chicken and the most sustainably produced traditional chicken aspired for the outset of the 2030s.

    SuperMeat’s cultivated chicken is projected to achieve a carbon footprint approximately 50% lower than the ambitious benchmarks set for conventional chicken production, when integrating renewable energy sources and sustainable production practices in both conventional and cultivated production methods. Even under the reliance on standard grid electricity, a 27% reduction in the carbon footprint of SuperMeat’s chicken is achieved, in comparison to the ambitious conventional chicken benchmark.

    This analysis not only showcases the advantages of cultivated meat compared to conventional methods, but shows, for the first time, that cultivated meat could drastically improve the most carbon-efficient form of animal protein available today — chicken — in carbon efficiency and across numerous other measures.

    Key findings:

    • Reduced Environmental Impact: SuperMeat’s cultivated chicken marks a significant 47% reduction in carbon footprint, a 64% decrease in fine particulate matter formation, an 85% lessening in terrestrial acidification, and a 90% cutback in land use compared to traditional chicken farming.
    • Enhanced Feed-to-Meat Efficiency: SuperMeat’s chicken product exhibits a lower Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) than conventional meats, demonstrating superior efficiency in transforming feed into meat. Specifically, SuperMeat’s FCR is estimated at around 1 vs. 2.8 for chicken, almost three times more efficient.

    A Highly Efficient Production Process Fuels SuperMeat’s Sustainability Milestones:

    SuperMeat’s continuous production process will be instrumental in achieving the expected sustainability outcomes for its cultivated chicken. The foundation of this analysis is based on practices currently in place at SuperMeat’s pilot plant, underscoring the current effectiveness and feasibility of this approach. The continuous production process allows for significantly higher yields — up to nine times greater than a fed-batch process based on SuperMeat’s data — and is more energy-efficient than fed-batch processes. Moreover, the adoption of high cell densities and the use of spent media in SuperMeat’s process contribute to a favorable feed-to-kg conversion rate. These breakthroughs in cellular agriculture are expected to enable SuperMeat to set these sustainability standards when producing at a commercial scale.

    “Efficiency in meat production is no longer a goal; it’s a necessity,” said SuperMeat’s CEO Ido Savir. “Our pilot plant is the proving ground for SuperMeat’s vision of efficiency and sustainability. Through continuous production, we’ve showcased the potential to dramatically increase yields while reducing our environmental footprint, a testament to our dedication to advancing meat production.”

    Moving Forward:

    SuperMeat remains dedicated to pioneering advancements in sustainable meat production, and will use this LCA as a strategic guide for planning its large-scale production facilities, with a focus on incorporating renewable energy, establishing a sustainable supply chain and enhancing production processes.

    For the comprehensive LCA findings, visit SuperMeat’s website.

    About SuperMeat:

    SuperMeat stands at the forefront of the cultivated meat sector, championing the move towards sustainable, nutritious, and animal-friendly meat production. The company has established a pivotal continuous process, setting a new standard in the production of cultivated meat. SuperMeat has formed strategic partnerships with leading food companies, underscoring its commitment to working together to create a better food system.

    Methodology 

    The research methodology behind SuperMeat’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) employs a systematic approach to evaluate the environmental impact of its cultivated chicken product. 

    The LCA, anchored in the goal and scope definition per ISO 14044 standards, emphasizes an ex-ante approach, comparing SuperMeat’s future production to 2030 ambitious benchmarks for conventional chicken. SuperMeat provided estimates based on specific technological data and efficiency metrics for its large-scale production. The analysis adopts a cradle-to-gate perspective, accounting for all relevant environmental extractions and emissions up to the point of leaving the production facility, including packaging. The assessment critically examines global warming potential among other key environmental metrics, using established environmental databases, ensuring a comprehensive and forward-looking analysis of SuperMeat’s environmental practices.

    Source: SuperMeat

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