Because it’s vegan or meat free. Everything sold at grocery stores that are meat free prepared proteins are hugely overpriced, making them unaffordable for most families.
I just had an impossible burger i made at home, the 2 impossible meat patties cost $10. Which is absurdly expensive. Vegan chicken burgers are similar. Vegan bacon costs 3x the price of regular bacon. Same with vegan lunch meats.
So lab grown meat will most certainly be overpriced and not appealing to regular people and families who can’t afford premium prices
If you’re vegan for ethical reasons, lab grown meat is fine. If you’re vegan because limiting your animal protein has health benefits, lab grown meat is still not okay.
More importantly the technology isn’t there yet for scale. After watching a few documentaries I’m not sure if we will ever scale it up, but here’s to hoping. I need to go find some links now
I remember reading this article on the subject and finding it interesting: https://archive.ph/8xyWx
My terrible summary of that article is that it’s really hard to turn cell goop into something that is recognizably hamburger. There’s a shitload of structure to meat so you have to make the cells do their “turn into this part of a cow” thing. That’s been really difficult to scale up. One shortcut you can take is to use actual animal meat as a starter, but then you’re no longer making vegetarian meat, and I seem to recall there being some other issue with that.
I really want lab grown meat to work, but I’m losing hope.
Why wouldn’t it be economically viable?
Because it’s vegan or meat free. Everything sold at grocery stores that are meat free prepared proteins are hugely overpriced, making them unaffordable for most families.
I just had an impossible burger i made at home, the 2 impossible meat patties cost $10. Which is absurdly expensive. Vegan chicken burgers are similar. Vegan bacon costs 3x the price of regular bacon. Same with vegan lunch meats.
So lab grown meat will most certainly be overpriced and not appealing to regular people and families who can’t afford premium prices
If you’re vegan for ethical reasons, lab grown meat is fine. If you’re vegan because limiting your animal protein has health benefits, lab grown meat is still not okay.
More importantly the technology isn’t there yet for scale. After watching a few documentaries I’m not sure if we will ever scale it up, but here’s to hoping. I need to go find some links now
I remember reading this article on the subject and finding it interesting: https://archive.ph/8xyWx
My terrible summary of that article is that it’s really hard to turn cell goop into something that is recognizably hamburger. There’s a shitload of structure to meat so you have to make the cells do their “turn into this part of a cow” thing. That’s been really difficult to scale up. One shortcut you can take is to use actual animal meat as a starter, but then you’re no longer making vegetarian meat, and I seem to recall there being some other issue with that.
I really want lab grown meat to work, but I’m losing hope.
If we made a continuously long chain of meat using artificial cells, at what point is is it just the cells? Or is it still the Meat of Theseus?
On paper it totally should be. I mean, you’re not growing animals, just the parts you want to eat in a vat.
But well, in actuality it may follow the same path as vertical farming.