[This story was originally published by The Counter, a non-profit newsroom covering the forces shaping how and what we eat. It is republished here by permission.]
For years, companies have said that “meat without slaughter” is right around the corner. But when will products actually be on store shelves? The answer always seems to be the same: just a few years from now.
Illustration by
Cristina
Estanislao.
Splashy headlines have long overshadowed inconvenient truths about
biology and economics. Now, extensive new research suggests the
industry may be on a billion-dollar crash course with reality.
Paul Wood didn’t buy it.
For years, the former pharmaceutical industry executive watched from
the sidelines as biotech startups raked in venture capital, making
bold pronouncements about the future of meat. He was fascinated by
their central contention: the idea that one day, soon, humans will
no longer need to raise livestock to enjoy animal protein. We’ll be
able to grow meat in giant, stainless-steel bioreactors—and enough
of it to feed the world. These advancements in technology, the pitch
went, would fundamentally change the way human societies interact
with the planet, making the care, slaughter, and processing of
billions of farm animals the relic of a barbaric past.
It’s a digital-era narrative we’ve come to accept, even expect:
Powerful new tools will allow companies to rethink everything,
untethering us from systems we’d previously taken for granted.
Countless news articles have suggested that a paradigm shift driven
by cultured meat is inevitable, even imminent. But Wood wasn’t
convinced. For him, the idea of growing animal protein was old news,
no matter how science-fictional it sounded. Drug companies have used
a similar process for decades, a fact Wood knew because he’d
overseen that work himself.
....
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