Why cultivated, or lab-grown meat, is not only safe, and ethical, but also a smart way to create protein

In simple terms, cultivated meat — also known as cultured, cell-based or clean meat — is real meat grown from real animals, but only from a few cells, using bioreactors. No mass breeding, no factory farming, no antibiotics, no assembly-line slaughter necessary. 

While cultivated meat has yet to hit the mainstream and is not yet available in Canada, some products are currently on the market elsewhere, including in the U.S. and Singapore. 

For proponents, the products offer solutions to many of the problems plaguing our flawed food system, including how to feed 10 billion people by 2050. Animal agriculture is already using up 83 per cent of available farm land (about 44 per cent of all habitable land) on earth, while only providing 18 per cent of our calories and 37 per cent of our protein. Talk about an inefficient system. 

For those against the cultivated meat solution, though — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who recently signed a bill criminalizing its production and sale — it is an “affront to nature and creation,” as Florida state Rep. Tyler Sirois said last year. 

But positioning cultured meat as “fake” and “unnatural” while comparing it to “wholesome” and “traditional” animal farming couldn’t be more ironic, as modern factory farming is anything but natural. Today’s farmed animals are selectively bred to grow bigger and faster than ever before. They are crammed into massive sheds or have large swaths of land cleared for feedlots.