Will Competitive, Lab-Grown Meat Reduce Our Food Waste?

You know how, in sci-fi books and movies, we always seem to have figured out this whole “world hunger” problem? We always have some miraculous technology, or some political movement, that has solved the dilemma of making sure everyone has enough food, and that the planet isn’t decimated by the environmental costs of raising colossal herds of animals.

Well, it’s possible we’re on the verge of turning science fiction into science fact yet again. According to Big Think, we’re on the verge of affordable, competitive, lab-grown meat coming right to our tables.

From $325,000, To $11.36

We’ve had the capacity to make lab-grown meat for some time now, but the problem we’ve been facing is that it’s been prohibitively expensive to produce. However, with additional leaps forward, developments in technology, and new procedures, scientists have brought down the costs from hundreds of thousands of dollars, to a little over ten bucks.

Now, that’s still a little on the pricey side for a single meat patty, but it shows just how much progress has been made in the past few years regarding the cost of lab-grown meat. If it looks the same, and tastes the same, and we can get it down to a competitive cost with traditional meat, then it’s only a matter of time before science becomes the staple.

What Would That Change?

Well, cheap, lab-grown meat would make it possible to feed huge swaths of the populace that are currently not able to afford meat of any sort. That would have a big impact, but not as big as the impact we would see by reducing the amount of land and resources dedicated to raising cattle. One of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases in the world, cattle and other animals no longer being necessary (or at least being raised in reduced amounts) would have huge impacts on climate change and resource management.

So, if this is the future, it can’t come soon enough.