Back in January this year, I conducted a survey about lab-grown meat, asking my readers and people across the internet how they felt about this new and controversial development. Perhaps surprisingly, a massive proportion of meat-eaters were enthusiastic about the idea, with 81.9% wanting to try it. 47% of vegetarians and 33% of vegans wanted to try lab-grown flesh, but even those who did not want to try it were still supportive of the idea. Overall, the majority of those surveyed showed overwhelming support for lab-grown meat. But back in January, the prospect of lab-grown meat becoming a household name seemed distant.
"Essentially, SuperMeat is real meat, but it's produced in a lab. This means animals do not need to be farmed and killed for SuperMeat to exist."
Now, SuperMeat has stepped onto the scene, and the concept of a world without factory farms seems closer than ever before. With a month left in their Indiegogo campaign, SuperMeat has raised over $150,000 USD to fund their "meat machine" prototype.
On their Indiegogo page, SuperMeat offers a short overview of their goal:
We were looking for the best way to end animal suffering, but also be realistic about meat eating habits. Together with Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, an award winning biomedical engineer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, we've been developing a system for producing cultured meat. That means growing REAL meat, non GMO and without antibiotics in machines in supermarkets and communities all over the world.Essentially, SuperMeat is real meat, but it's produced in a lab. This means animals do not need to be farmed and killed for SuperMeat to exist. SuperMeat is eco-friendly and humane. On top of this, its creators believe SuperMeat will help fight world hunger, claiming that by 2050, there won't be enough livestock left to feed the world's 9.6 billion humans - but there will be enough SuperMeat.
The following infographic illustrates how SuperMeat is made:
Only one single chicken is needed to collect the cells, and this chicken will not be killed or harmed in any way.
Because of the way SuperMeat is produced, it will be much cheaper than meat as we know it today. As an added benefit, because SuperMeat is grown under supervised conditions, it will be healthier, too. Most importantly, no animals will suffer for SuperMeat, and the problem of food scarcity for people in underprivileged communities will lessen.
The creators of SuperMeat have a specific timeline set in place. Founded in December 2015, the company plans to build its first prototype in January 2018, begin production in April 2021, and make the product publicly available in July 2021. That's only five years away. A cruelty-free world is so much closer than we could have ever imagined before.
If you would like to support SuperMeat, please share this article or donate to their Indiegogo campaign at this link. You can also follow the project on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to leave your opinions and ideas about lab-grown meat in the comments below.
