Much has been written and said about lab-grown meat displacing traditional proteins at the grocery store. But some state legislatures are nipping that possibility in the bud.
Six states have banned lab-grown meat, and Texas could be next if Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill that would prohibit its sale in the state.
Joe Fassler, a freelance reporter who covers food and the environment, spoke to the Texas Standard about what’s behind the ban.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Before we get into why states are banning lab-grown meat, can you update us on how widely available it is in the U.S.?
Joe Fassler: It’s essentially not available. There are a couple of companies that have approval here, but they don’t really have any kind of commercial distribution infrastructure.
And I think that’s for good reason. Their products are still, as far as I know, way too expensive to actually go toe-to-toe in the supermarket.
So it is theoretically available – there are some fancy press tastings and things going on – but it’s not something, in the U.S. at least, that anyone can actually really go out and buy.
So what are the challenges for the industry as it tries to scale up?
I think it’s twofold. Historically, my reporting has been focused on the scientific barriers. We’ve been using the technology of growing cells in large stainless steel tanks for a long time in medicine. It is new to apply that technology to food.
And I think it’s been a rough and rocky road kind of trying to figure that out, because we already have a food system that has been, for all its, you know, pros and cons, cranking out cheap meat for generations. And so to compete with that is really, really challenging.
You know, I think one of the mistakes that this emerging industry made was just thinking, okay, if we start making food in this brand-new way, as long as we can make it tasty and convenient and cheap, people will just switch and they won’t really think too much about it.
And that’s really turning out not to be true, as I think they’re seeing now. There’s really this cultural hurdle that they also face in terms of trying to convince the public that this is something they should buy.
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What’s the rationale that states have offered for banning lab-grown meat?
Well, I really think it’s about trying to preserve the competitive advantage of the incumbent, which is the conventional beef industry.
And I should say, I think the bans are really too bad. There is no reason to fear that this product is unsafe. It’s meat. These are cells and you can eat them and it’s fine.
I think this is a sort of preemptive move by industry and its allies in government to say, yeah, we’re not gonna do it this way. And it’s funny because it’s way premature.
I mean, this is not in any way, shape or form a current threat to the status quo meat industry. It’s just not. Can’t happen, won’t happen anytime soon.
What is the consumer backlash? What are people concerned about?
Well, I just think it’s a really radically new way of thinking about food. And you know, we are used to meat itself being from animals.
It is very strange – and I find it sort of wonderfully strange, but it is strange – to think about, okay, if you just put these disembodied cells into an environment where they can grow and give them the right nutrients, they will continue to multiply. And then people can actually eat that. I think it’s really quite a leap for people.
And I think, you know, there’s still going to be issues with this technology. I mean, essentially, you know you’re going to need corn and soy and the same kind of cheap commodity government-subsidized ingredients to feed them just the way that you will with actual animals.
These little cells, they also defecate, essentially; they create waste. And so there’s gonna be, you know, waste streams. In some ways they don’t get away from some of the issues of animal agriculture as much as, say, switching to a vegetarian diet would.
So I just think this is, whoa, this is way new for people. I think the idea of eating these disembodied cells is freaky, and I think even if there’s nothing kind of inherently wrong with it. And I just this industry not only has its sort of scientific and economic challenges cut out for itself, but also it needs to try to do more to win over the public as well.
