There are those who for years have questioned the sustainability of meat consumption in an increasingly overcrowded world, and not only because of the damage done to animals when they are used as food, but also because of an environmental issue, since livestock It pollutes the air –according to a report by the Food Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it generates more than 14% of greenhouse effect emissions.
Therefore, it is not surprising that people begin to talk about the fact that in the future we will eat insects –they are a great source of protein– or alternatives such as so-called artificial meat –also called laboratory or cultured meat- , which is that which does not come directly from the body of animals, but from the culture of cells extracted from them. Some point to this proposal as the prelude to the coming food revolution.
In this sense, the Israeli startup SuperMeat claims to be developing a biotechnology that will be capable of producing chicken meat grown from animal cells ; The result, they explain, will have a texture and flavor very similar to natural meat. It is intended that the price can be even cheaper than what we find today in the butcher shops of our neighborhoods and that the product, as they suggest, be healthier: without genetic modifications or antibiotics. The project involves Professor Yaakov Nahmias, a biomedical engineer from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
On the website of this Israeli company they explain that their project will greatly benefit the environment because this technology “requires 99% less land” than livestock now requires, “90% less water” and “emits 90% less greenhouse gases ”.
The process
The production of this cultured meat will begin by incubating the stem cells of animals – previously extracted without causing any damage, with a biopsy. They will be grown in a medium rich in essential nutrients and in which the cells will proliferate. Then, with the help of special technology, small tissues will have to be created from the cells and made to grow to obtain the meat that is so well known to all of us. “Biologically it will be the same as the meat that comes from animals,” they explain from SuperMeat. Sounds like a science fiction movie, right?
There are other different investigations aimed at the development of this type of cultured meat, but today the production is very expensive. The great challenge, therefore, is to develop a cheap means of production that makes this type of meat accessible to all. And that’s what SuperMeat tries to do, with a method that, they say, is “completely different from that used by other cultured meats.”
“We founded SuperMeat to revolutionize the food industry and promote an animal-free solution to world hunger and environmental degradation that will ensure a better future for our children,” explains SuperMeat co-founder Koby Barak. “Our team is made up of a very diverse group of lawyers, scientists, healthcare professionals and environmentalists who have come together to create an incredible and truly innovative device that will grow real, tasty meat with zero animal suffering and that will hit the market. within five years ”, predicts Barak.
The company has just concluded a financing campaign on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform and has managed to double its initial goal of raising $ 100,000 (about 89,000 euros). The next step will be to raise half a million dollars (about 444,000 euros) to develop a prototype of its meat-making machine . They will still need more funds to make this project a reality, and if they succeed, the first prototype of the machine could arrive in 2018 and it would begin to be commercialized in 2021.
Here is the peculiar video that SuperMeat has made to explain what their project consists of:
