How Long Does it Take to Grow Meat in a Lab?

Lab-grown meat presents the world with a number of benefits – improved environmental health, less animal cruelty, fewer cases of meat contamination, less use of antibiotics, and many more. While all of these benefits are attractive, understanding the factors that surround the production of cell-based meat will go a long way in helping us determine how long before it becomes commonplace on food menus.

Questions such as how long it takes to make cultured meat, the production costs, and the manufacturing processes involved are very much in place to ask. The answers to these questions will not only increase our knowledge base and eliminate misconceptions but also help us appreciate how effective a food innovation like lab-grown meat is.

How Long Does it Take to Make Cultured Meat?

There is no fixed duration to the production of cell-based meat. The processing time would depend largely on the kind of meat being cultured and other laboratory factors.

Although it takes slightly vigorous processes and requires expertise, any kind of cultivated meat should be ready within two to eight weeks.

This duration covers the period of culturing and other processes involved until the cultured tissue is fit for human consumption.

What Are Other Processes Involved After Growing Meat in the Lab?

Right after meat has been cultured in a lab, it looks somewhat far from what the meat we all know looks like even though it is meat by composition. Therefore, scientists subject the grown tissue to further processing so that it can achieve a realistic meat look.

This processing technique might vary slightly from lab to lab, but it would usually involve processes like scaffolding to achieve the familiar meat shape and texture, and the manual addition of other nutrients like proteins to achieve the perfect meat taste.

How Much Does it Cost to Make Meat in a Lab?

The first lab-grown meat ever was produced in 2012 and was used in making a cultured meat hamburger. The manufacturing process had cost a whopping $325,000. But not anymore.

Over the years, improvisations in production techniques have helped to reduce production costs. Although we'd still consider the production of cell-based meat expensive, we expect that it will become less cost-intensive over the years.

Currently, experts predict that with large-scale production, it will cost about $11 to make a 5-ounce burger using cell-based meat. You may still call the price expensive but the difference is super clear from what was obtainable a decade ago.

Some statistics have it that cell-based meat should be effectively cost-effective by 2030. Right now, most cultured meat manufacturing companies are relying on huge investments and philanthropic gifting from investors who have picked sufficient interest in the prospect of lab-grown meat.

Conclusion

While cultured meat is not a regular on food menus yet, its popularity is fast increasing and curiosity has spurred the world to ask several questions. As scientists and food technologists provide us answers to these questions, it becomes obvious that a thing like growing meat in a lab is possible after all.

Not only that, the past few years have shown us that the innovation has met with general positivity. With each passing day, technology helps us find a better way of manufacturing cultured meat. It would not be long anymore before the somewhat vague term becomes a household food name like potatoes or oats.