I’m predicting it now: traditional red meat will endure and even outlast plant-based derivatives and so-called cultured meat alternatives.
This isn’t me being contrarian. I look at polling and trends. Without even knowing much about it, 50 percent of Americans will forgo eating cultured animal cells. Why? Consumers don’t like having behaviors–much like products–forced on them. They stick with what they know and don’t see the hype with these fads.
As I noted earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) greenlit the sale of lab-grown meat for two companies: Upside Foods and GOOD Meat. This week, these companies got approval to sell lab-grown chicken.
Who are the top investors of Upside Foods? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and, unsurprisingly, Bill Gates. Let’s also examine GOOD Meat— a subsidiary of Just Eat. It makes plant-based eggs. What’s their ultimate goal? To lessen the so-called climate crisis by helping the U.S. pivot away from animal agriculture.
GOOD Meat lauded getting lab chicken approved and announced their product will be served in 30 Chef Jose Andres restaurants. This is the same Chef Andres who requested a gas stove ban exemption in his new Palo Alto restaurant.
But a University of California- Davis study poured water on cultured meat, warning it’ll be more carbon intensive and worse for the environment than beef. Lab grown meat’s global warming potential, it noted, is 25 times worse than beef production. Ouch!
While some fellow conservatives and libertarians reassured me the market will allow innovation here, I don’t see that happening. Upside Foods’ major investor, as I noted, is the federal government. Count on these industries to be heavily subsidized. How is that working out for electric vehicles? (Hint: not so good: few people are interested in buying them, even with available tax credits.)
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also determined ACBMs can’t measure up to traditional meat on key metrics.
“Traditional meat is a nutritionally dense food containing high-quality proteins, vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients. It is of interest to note that many compounds that accumulate in the muscle are not produced in the muscle but derive from animal feed components which have been digested and modified by non-muscle organs. Unless specifically added to the culture medium and taken up by the cells, these compounds would be absent in cultured meat, influencing processes determining flavor, texture, color and nutritional aspects,” the study said.
The study concluded cultured meat is costly, boasts a high environmental footprint, and warned “it is currently impossible to gauge all potential issues related to sensorial aspects and nutritional value of cultured meat products entering the market in the forthcoming years.”
The challenge to meat-eating doesn’t stop there. A group of doctors promoting “plant-based eating” recently bullied the Macon Bacon baseball team into changing their name.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a non-profit animal liberation research and advocacy organization, sent a letter to the collegiate baseball team urging them to stop elevating bacon.
“Macon Bacon’s glorification of bacon, a processed meat that raises the risk of colorectal cancer and other diseases, sends the wrong message to fans,” PCRM nutrition education program manager Anna Herby wrote to the team. “I urge you to update the team’s name to Macon Facon Bacon and promote plant-based bacon alternatives, such as Facon Bacon or Mushroom Bacon, that will help your fans stay healthy. As for Kevin, Macon Bacon’s mascot, he can reveal that he is actually plant-based bacon.”
“The Macon Bacon do not view ourselves as a glorification of an unhealthy lifestyle,” responded Macon Bacon President Brandon Raphael. “Rather, we pride ourselves on being a fun-natured organization focused on bringing families and communities together of Middle Georgia and beyond.”
The team’s Twitter account doubled down on the name, tweeting, “Bacon Yesterday. Bacon Today. Bacon Tomorrow. Bacon Forever.”
Attacks on meat-eating don’t end here in the U.S. A U.K. based vegan, Amber Husain, has published a new book entitled “ Meat Love: An Ideology of the Flesh” that is expected to catch on stateside very soon.
A former meat-eater, Husain wants people to stop embracing what she calls “Meat Love” because a shift, in her mind, is occurring due to “climate catastrophe and changing gender politics mean that a macho eroticisation of meat is no longer acceptable in socially conscious middle-class circles.”
The Guardian added, “Husain acknowledges that people who “aren’t the greatest beneficiaries of capitalism” may understandably feel entitled to whatever pleasure they have left. She is also clear that “the choice to not eat meat is not available to everyone” for economic reasons. Her explicit focus is on people who do have the luxury of choice but still tie themselves in knots to defend meat eating.”
Americans have the choice to eat or not eat meat. But whose choices will be respected if meat alternatives are forced on us? Plant burgers are fizzling out of favor. And let’s be honest: lab meat has too many unknowns and scalability issues that’ll doom its prospects unless heavily subsidized (which is questionable).
If you want to experiment, by all means go crazy here and eat it. All power to you. Just don’t force your habits on us and we’ll be good.