Lab Grown Meat: A FutureFactual Deep Dive

FUTUREFACTUAL DEEP DIVES

FutureFactual Deep Dives take you behind the story, into the science behind the headlines. Handpicked and verified by the FutureFactual team, Deep Dives bring you the sharpest, most essential content to get you fully up to speed, whatever the topic. 

Here, we’ve gathered the most insightful videos, podcasts and articles from trusted voices. Together, they’ll bring you up to speed on the fascinating and dynamic world of lab-grown meat. Whether you're new to the subject or looking to go deeper, these are the pieces worth your time.

THE STORY SO FAR...

‘Cultivated’, ‘cell-grown’, ‘clean’ - whatever you call it, this synthetic protein grown from real animal cells looks set to reshape the way we eat. But big questions remain: what does it taste like? Is it safe? Could it really end animal slaughter, and what does it mean for public health, as well as traditional farmers?

Here’s the lowdown…

HOW IS THIS STUFF MADE?

The process of creating lab-grown meat is surprisingly simple and has changed little since it was first attempted in the early 2010s. You begin by taking cells from a living animal and growing them in a bioreactors, along with a nutrient-rich medium, until they form muscle and other tissues. The meat produced is molecularly identical to conventional meat. 

WHO’S MAKING AND SELLING IT?

This year saw lab-grown meat go on sale for the first time in the UK as dog food. And as far back as 2020, Singapore became the first country in the world to approve the sale of lab-grown meat, in the form of a chicken nugget.

At the moment, there are about 60 start-ups world-wide, aiming to produce and sell cultivated meat, at scale; and its not just beef and chicken but also duck, seafood, foie gras, kangaroo, and more. The race to solve issues of scalability, not to mention public perception, has truly begun.   

One start-up worth spotlighting is Cellular Agriculture Ltd. Their founder, Illtud Dunsford, once a third-generation pig farmer in South Wales, swapped life on the farm for a new kind of agriculture, one that happens in bioreactors instead of barns. He’s proving that meat can be made sustainably, ethically, and still proudly locally. 

SO WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY TASTE LIKE?

Journalist Linda Geddes got the chance to try cultivated pork sausages at Dutch start-up Meatable’s lab and reported that the sausages looked like conventional chipolatas as their pink exteriors turned rich caramel brown as they fried in a pan. 

Her verdict: It tasted and felt much like a regular sausage—“somewhat underwhelming” in the sense that it didn’t blow her mind, because it was so close to what she knows. She writes: “It behaves just like eating a regular sausage.” She noted that the cultivated meat sample glistened with “juicy, greasy loveliness,” in contrast to the vegan sample served alongside and that the texture felt “meaty” and the taste was “well, sausagey”!

AND HOW ABOUT FISH?

The leading company pioneering lab-grown fish meat is undoubtedly ‘Wildtype’. They use salmon cells, nutrients, and clever “scaffolds,” to grow fillets that look and taste almost identical to the real deal, all in just a few weeks. The result? Juicy, sushi-ready salmon that chefs say could fool most diners. Their cultivated salmon has just been approved for sale in the United States by the FDA after they concluded that the product is as safe to eat as traditionally farmed salmon. Although production is still pricey, this form of production could offer a way to take pressure off wild fish stocks and make seafood truly sustainable - no fishing rods required. 

THE THREAT TO TRADITIONAL FARMING

Italy and the US State of Florida have already banned development of lab-made meat products, citing threats to traditional farming. However, new research suggests these fears are not necessarily shared by all farmers - the picture is a little more complex; While many farmers do fear that the shift could disrupt farm business models without clear transition pathways, on the flip side, the research also identified potential win-win partnerships, such as using agricultural by-products (e.g., oilseed rape meal) as feedstocks for the growth media in lab-grown meat production. This suggests that farms could adapt by supplying inputs to the new industry rather than being sidelined.

WHAT ABOUT THE PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS?

One of the major problems with factory farms is an increased risk of antibiotic resistance and, perhaps more pressingly, zoonotic diseases, which occur when non-human animals transfer pathogens like influenza and coronavirus to people.

The National Institute of Health argues that lab-grown meat could offer a solution. Because lab-grown meat is manufactured in controlled conditions without whole slaughtered animals, it has the potential to cut out many hazards. They suggest the moral and practical case for promoting clean meat is strong, provided consumer trust and social norms evolve alongside the technology.

BUT WILL THE PUBLIC ACCEPT IT? 

There’s no denying that consumer resistance to the idea of lab-grown meat is strong, especially due to the perceived unnaturalness of eating something which started life in a petri-dish.

The American Psychological Association has attempted to unpick the psychological factors at play when people consider eating lab-grown meat and it turns out - emotions play a huge role in how people respond. Research shows that moral values and disgust are often stronger predictors of acceptance or rejection than facts about safety or sustainability. In other words, even when people know lab-grown meat is safe, the “yuck factor” can override rational acceptance.

On the flip side, changing the moral framing of lab-grown meat could be a powerful tool in shifting perception. Messaging that aligns lab-grown meat with moral values people already hold, such as compassion, tends to increase acceptance. When framed as “meat without killing” or “ethical innovation,” it can appeal to harm-reduction and progress values rather than clashing with purity concerns. In short, overcoming that gut-level “ick” requires shifting the story from “lab-grown weirdness” to “clever, kinder meat.”

ISN’T THIS ALL JUST A GREEN-WASHING EXERCISE? 

Lab-grown meat is not without its critics. A thoughtful debate from the BBC World Service discusses the potential of lab-grown meat to significantly reduce emissions from traditional livestock farming, which is a major contributor to global greenhouse gases. In contrast, critics raise concerns about its high energy demands, the safety of new production methods, and the potential erosion of traditional food cultures; Not to mention production remains expensive and limited in scale.

There are plenty of challenges to the claim that cultured meat is automatically better for the environment than traditional livestock. While lab-grown meat could reduce methane emissions (a potent but short-lived greenhouse gas produced by cattle), it may instead increase carbon dioxide emissions, which persist in the atmosphere for centuries. In other words, lab-grown meat production may trade short-term methane for long-term carbon dioxide, depending on its energy source. If that energy comes from fossil fuels, the result could actually be worse for the climate over the long run.

Ultimately, whether lab-grown meat is climate-friendly depends on how clean its energy inputs are, meaning its sustainability hinges on renewable energy use, not just the technology itself.

Read more here.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Since 2013 when the first Lab-grown burger was unveiled, there has been a surge of investment, startups, and regulatory progress, turning lab-grown meat from a curiosity into a serious commercial and environmental innovation. For now, it sits at the crossroads; There are still big questions about cost, carbon, and culture but the momentum is undeniable. 

Moving from lab-scale flasks to commercial-scale production will require bioreactors of very large volume (we’re talking tens of thousands of litres), and achieving that involves managing new engineering parameters such as gas exchange and ultimately, shear stress.

Scaling up isn’t just about building bigger equipment - it’s about strengthening the entire production chain. That means having reliable sources for key materials like cells, growth media, scaffolds, and clean water, as well as developing efficient processes for harvesting, mixing, and packaging the final products.

To make cultivated meat commercially viable, producers will need to lower the cost of growth media, design more sustainable systems, and fine-tune the economics of production. Only then can the industry move from small pilot facilities to large-scale, full production.

With every new breakthrough in cell culturing, energy efficiency, and consumer acceptance, the once-sci-fi idea of slaughter-free steaks edges closer to reality. 

Watch this space… the future of meat is still being written. 

Hungry for more? Check out this full length documentary on lab-grown meat.