INTHEBLACK February 2024 - Magazine - Page 46
F E AT U R E
“Developing the quantities you need to feed the market – and building the
infrastructure to produce those quantities – is a very difficult proposition, because
most of the bioreactors that you might use in this process are already being
assigned and used in industries like pharmaceuticals.”
DR SIMON EASSOM, FOOD FRONTIER
environmental impact of cultivated meat
is likely to be “orders of magnitude” higher
than that of retail beef, based on current and
near-term production methods.
Gosker notes that these findings have not
been peer-reviewed and are based on the
researchers’ assumptions about using costly
pharmaceutical-grade media for cultivated
meat production.
She says the assumptions are “misaligned
with current industry practices”, as many
cultivated meat companies currently use
cheaper food-grade ingredients.
Eassom adds that, without data on the
energy inputs of producing cultivated meat,
it is hard to determine how its environmental
impact will compare to traditional animal
agriculture.
“The truth is, we don’t really know how
sustainable the cultivated meat industry is just
yet,” he says.
“It’s extremely difficult to measure the
specific environmental impact for any aspect
of agriculture, unless the company producing
the food is prepared to give you all their
sourcing, production and supply chain data. As
a result, nearly all of the assessments are based
on assumptions and certain parameters.”
However, with the use of renewable energy,
Eassom says the opportunity for the cultivated
meat industry to emit far less greenhouse
gas than the animal agriculture industry is
“enormous”.
“This is because cultivated meat has zero
methane production,” he says. “Ruminating
animals belch methane and, as we know,
methane emissions are more damaging
than CO2 from fossil fuels. They cannot
be sequestered and cannot be absorbed by
carbon-absorbing plants or the sea.”
FROM LAB TO PLATE
Production costs for cultivated meat today
remain well above those of conventional
animal protein. According to McKinsey
analysis, however, about 75 per cent of
costs can be eliminated through increased
scale and superior manufacturing
processes. Further costs may be cut by
46 INTHEBLACK February 2024
fine-tuning processes and by blending
cultivated meats with plant protein.
“I’m positive about the industry, and I
believe that maybe in about 20 years we’ll get
there,” Valtchev says. “But it’s important to
note that the current obstacles are more than
just enough finance to scale or to optimise
existing processes. The technology is just
not there yet to support a significant and
viable industry, but it’s definitely a possibility
down the track, because science progresses
immensely fast.”
Gosker expects the pace of regulatory
approvals and coordination to accelerate,
leading to new opportunities in key
Asia-Pacific markets like Australia, Japan
and Korea.
She notes that the Singapore government
has also forged partnerships with various
Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia and
New Zealand, to collaborate on alternative
protein research and development.
“With all of these wheels in motion, we
expect that cultivated meat will be at least
theoretically available to consumers in many,
if not most, of Asia’s biggest markets in five
years’ time,” she says. “But it will still be a
long way off from achieving price parity with
conventional meat while the industry scales up
manufacturing capacity across the continent.”
Eassom predicts that, when more
large multinational food players channel
more investment into alternative protein
technologies, the industry will experience
rapid growth.
“There is some work to be done
before we see a day when you and I will
go to the supermarket and buy a cut
of cultivated meat,” Eassom says.
As for how the industry’s environmental
footprint will compare to traditional animal
agriculture, Howitt says it remains to be seen.
“To say that something is more
environmentally friendly is an interesting way
to frame things, because we are all progressing
towards a carbon-neutral world,” he says.
“There is a point where people may say
that now, but in 10 years’ time, can they still
say it?”
