Tofu on steroids.
Via Circa:
The way meat is produced and consumed has long been considered a problem. A handful of tech companies now believe they have the solution in lab-grown or “clean” meat.
San Francisco-based JUST is one of those companies and could actually be the first to bring “clean” meat to actual plates.
“We’re going to be coming out with the first ever meat that didn’t require killing or confining an animal, likely going to be chicken, before the end of the year,” JUST CEO Josh Tetrick told Circa during a recent tour of its research and development labs.
“They put a tiny little plate on my desk the other day. I thought it was pretty good.”
So, how is “clean” meat made, and why, if it already tastes good, can’t we buy it now?
“Clean meat is real meat produced from animal cells instead of live, confined animals,” said JUST senior scientist Vitor Santo.
Everything starts with a small cell biopsy from an animal, a procedure Santo says is harmless and, once lots of different animal cells types are “banked” at labs, won’t be necessary very often. Once biopsied cells reach the lab, they are placed in nutrients that allow them to grow, or proliferate, in a similar way that they would inside of an animal’s body. Eventually, the system grows large enough to make up a piece of meat.
Sounds simple, but Santo went on to explain that those nutrients that JUST and other “clean” meat companies use today to culture independent meat cells are found in a blood-based animal serum. Its use is pretty much the main reason why lab-grown meat is considered to be still in testing, because the serum’s procurement not only goes against the idea of “clean” meat by having to be drawn directly from farmed animals, but it’s also really expensive.
“We would never be able to use it as a part of our formulation to make it an affordable product that can reach consumers,” Santo said.
This has made the obvious focus of the “clean” meat industry to find replacements for animal serum. Advancements there could help JUST with its goal to sell its clean chicken at no more than a 30-percent markup over the traditional chicken meat customers can pick up at the store now.