How is Lab-Grown Beef Made?
We've been hearing about it in trends and commercials. Celebrities are talking about it and investment companies and putting their fortune into it. They call it lab-grown meat and promote it to be the future of the protein industry. There are different kinds of meat attached to the word “lab-grown” – lab-grown beef, lab-grown chicken, lab-grown game meat, and even lab-grown seafood.
Lab-grown beef and chicken appear to be the most common of these meats, which is not a surprise since beef and chicken are the most popular meat protein consumed globally. But how exactly is lab-grown beef made that makes it so special from conventional meat? You are just about to find out!
What is Lab-Grown Meat?
Lab-grown meat is a product of real-time science. They are meats that are grown in the laboratory, cultured from a small cluster of animal cells into fully formed tissue with all the characteristics of a piece of meat from a slaughter slab.
The most striking attribute of lab-grown meats is that they have no interaction with an animal farm from start to when they are brought to the dining table. Scientists also affirm that it takes a shorter production time to bring lab-grown meat to the table than the conventional animal farm counterpart.
Lab-grown meat also goes by other names such as cultivated meat, cell-based meat, and lab-based meat.
How is Lab-Grown Beef Made?
The process for producing all kinds of lab-grown meats follows a similar pattern, with the major difference being the raw material used for production.
Lab-grown beef is manufactured by retrieving a small number of muscle cells from a living cow. It only requires anesthesia that puts the animal to sleep for no more than half an hour to a few hours to get this process done.
The retrieved cells are placed in bioreactors, after which certain nutrients necessary for tissue growth are added to them. The cells would continue to grow from there, forming a lump of muscle tissue.
You could call this lump of muscle tissue meat, but the process is not done yet. Scientists employ a method known as scaffolding to conform the muscle tissue to look like well-known beef products such as steaks or nuggets. This makes the tissue take up the structure and texture of conventional meat, such that you'd never experience a weird feeling when you consume the lab-grown beef.
The final stage of production is more of a chef’s job than that of a scientist. The meat is cut to desired sizes, marinated, and cooked to whatever the chef chooses.
Is Lab-Grown Meat Real Meat?
The simple answer is yes! Lab-grown meat is real meat. It contains the exact composition of traditional meat, which is no more than the flesh of an animal. The only difference between these two meats is how they are grown.
This is no artificial meat. A synthetic product would be one made from substances that are not the typical raw materials used for a product, even though these manufacturing materials would result in a product that looks like the real thing. Lab-grown meats are not produced this way. They are made from cells – the natural building blocks of life.
Conclusion
It is true that the term "lab-grown" makes our subject of discussion sound more like a specimen for scientific research than a food product for man's consumption. Lab-grown meat products are currently being produced in labs on a small scale. Sooner or later, however, these laboratories will be replaced with facilities that can be compared to microbreweries once production becomes stable, scalable, and less cost-intensive.
