Future meat will come from a lab - and that's a good thing

Have you ever killed an animal and ate it after? No? Why not?

I wrote an article about meat consumption on my German blog, please find below the translation. It is not a German issue, it is a worldwide issue.


The Germans are a nation of meat eaters. 13kg/person/year beef is already a lot with the Americans with 42 still lie far over it (but we lead with the pigs). But no matter, the question is how long can we afford meat consumption?

Worldwide, we are talking about 63 million tonnes of beef, 99 million tons of pig, goat 12 milion tons and 83 million tons of chicken. China alone has increased in the last 20 years of his beef consumption from 2 to about 10 kg per person per year. One can only imagine what it looks like when Brazil, India and Africa to grow even further, plus Southeast Asia.

To bring it to the point: We will run out of cattle and pigs eventually. And even if not, the consequences will be unbearable. Once there is methane, which is emitted from cattle and has a significant impact on climate change. On the other hand, indirect consequences, such as a study of Austria shows:

A major leverage point for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of pork production is the facilitation of European animal feed. The Majority of vital protein plants: such as soybean are currently produced in and imported from areas where de-forestation leads to major climatic and environmental impacts. For this reason the soybean production makes up to 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions of Austrian AMA pork meat. - See more at: http://seri.at/en/projects/completed-projects/spar-pork-meat/ # sthash.aLuwVGdB.dpuf

Soy is not the solution. A vegetarian day as call it the Green Party in Germany is helpful, in fact, but not in form of law (though I think the outcry kind of funny, since substantial parts of Germany are based on the Catholicism that asks for a meatless day ).

The solution is not yet on the supermarket shelves, but doable. None other than Sergey Brin has financed it, and Professor Mark Post has achieved it: The first meat from the lab.

Now of course real men will start crying an whining, it was not real meat. Well, let's see:

If real meat only comes from real animals, then real men should be able to kill an animal. Have you ever killed a pig, cow or chicken? Who would be willing to do this for the food supplies on a regular basis?

"The lab's meat is not high quality." What would have to prove, since you can control very well in the laboratory, which "good" ingredients in what concentration exists. But it rather raises the question of how high quality the meat we eat is rightnow. 50 percent ground beef, which is produced in the food industry from Pink Slime aka meat waste. The cheap meat from Aldi and Co. comes from mass production. Sausage is NOT made out of beef, and IKEA Meatballs not either.

Lab meat is the only solution we have. All the money that is used for the military budget should immediately be given to this research.


It's probably an attitude question of whether one would eat lab meat or not. Those who have left the cave in the spirit never real, will probably always find arguments against it. Until, as Professor Post, lab meat is much cheaper, because the other meat is supplied with an environmental levy.

Jamie Oliver has shown it in his show times how to do it. The killing of a chicken today.