b'SENSE, NONSENSE AND SCIENCEBY: JOE SCHWARCZCELL-CULTIVATED MEAT,FROM PETRI DISH TO DINNER PLATEAWe travelled to Chicago towere considered but consensus seems to beThe Chicken, in Tel Aviv, the second few years ago, I hosted Science To Go, a Discovery Channel series onthat cell-cultivated meat is what will fly.restaurant in the world to serve cultured food.And it took off in 2020 in Singapore, thechicken. It belongs to the Israeli company investigate deep-dish pizza, to Battle Creek,first country in the world to approve the saleSuperMeat, and serves crispy chicken Michigan to explore the history of break- of such meat.fillet on a semisweet brioche bun. Another fast cereal, and to the Cornfest in Taber,None other than Winston ChurchillIsraeli company, Aleph Farms, is more Alberta. The most impactive episode turnedprophesized in 1931 that in the futureambitious and is on the verge of producing out to be the one in which we focused onwe shall escape the absurdity of growinga steak by coaxing stem cells to differentiate meat production. We visited poultry farmsa whole chicken in order to eat the breastinto muscle, fat and connective tissue cells where thousands of chickens clucked inor wing, by growing these parts separatelythat then grow on a plant-based micro-close confinement and giant beef processingunder a suitable medium. The Americanscopic scaffolding that replicates the muscle plants where cows walked up the stairwaycompany, Good Meat made that happenfibres of conventional meat. The U.S. is the to heaven, as workers called it, and exitedalthough it did not exactly grow wingslatest country to hop on the bandwagon hours later packaged as steaks and burgers.and breasts, but a product that is more likewith the Food and Drug Administration I didnt give much thought to theground meat. This, however, can be com- and the Department of Agriculture having less-than-appetizing practice of raisingpacted into filets, much as is done withapproved cultured meat. animals so that we could slaughter andchicken nuggets. Phyllo puff pastry withFor now, cultured meat is more of a eat them until 2013 when news fromcultured chicken and black bean pureecuriosity since it cannot yet be produced on Maastricht University in the Netherlandswas the version served in Singapore ata large scale. However, the potential envi-made headlines. Dr. Mark Post had pro- Restaurant 1880 which has a reputation forronmental benefits are such that scaling up duced a hamburger that did not come frominnovation and social consciousness. Theproduction is a worthy challenge. Animal a slaughtered cow. It was made from har- chicken was priced at a fraction of the costagriculture accounts for about 15 per cent vesting cells cultured for two years in stacksof its production. of all greenhouse gas emissions, with beef of Petri dishes. This was still an animalFor now, cost is a major issue. Thebeing by far the greatest culprit. Most of the product in the sense that the original cellsnutrients are expensive, as are the largecorn and soybean grown go to feeding ani-came from a biopsy taken from the shoulderstainless-steel vessels needed to culturemals, and large tracts of land end up being of a cow. And the burger came with a heftythe cells. Those vessels, called bioreac- deforested to grow these crops and to make price of $325,000! The two food criticstors, can be seen through a glass wall atroom for feedlots. Far more water is needed who had the privilege of tasting the burgerto raise animals than to make cultured gave it a pass for taste but noted its lack ofmeat and the latter never requires the use juiciness since it was made from muscleof antibiotics. Furthermore, animals are not cells and contained no fat. Animal wel- an efficient way to meet our protein needs. fare activists and environmentalistsFor example, it takes nine calories of feed celebrated the experiment whileto get one calorie of meat from a chicken. cattle ranchers complained thatBut cultured meat has its issues as well. the meaning of meat was beingA great deal of energy is needed to hijacked since the very definitionrun the bioreactors, some consum-of meat is that it comes from theers wont make peace with what they flesh of an animal. call a Frankenfood, and the taste Thefirstproblemwasof a Black Angus steak is unlikely to nomenclature. What do yoube challenged. And then there is the call the new-fangled product?question of why cultured meat is Opinion was that lab-grownneeded. Why not just promote meat, and in vitro meata far cheaper diet that fea-would scare consumers.tures plant proteins?Cultured meat, cell-based meat, and clean meat EUROPEAN-SEED.COMISEED WORLD EUROPE I 31'