ANIMAL-FREE MEAT

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ANIMAL-FREE MEAT

Yes, you read it right, we’ll talk about actual meat with no slaughtering done to produce it. This kind of producing meat is referred to as Clean meat.

What is basically Clean meat?

 

Clean meat is cultured meat. This term refers to the genuine animal meat grown by farming the cells directly and no slaughtering or rearing of animals is done. As per our knowledge, we know; meat is a collection of cells which are muscle cells, fat cells, and other types of cells collectively known as connective tissue which contribute its structure. These cells are grown in a sterile and controlled environment which results in visual replica of the actual meat. Not only this, it would also have the nutritional and sensory profile which is of actual meat itself.

THE REALITY OF PRODUCING ANIMAL-MEAT:

When the animal meat is produced, food borne illnesses, nutrition-related diseases become a very serious problem. Conventional meat production system leads to the major source of pollution and many resources; predominantly land,energy and water get used. For rearing of animals and to feed them, mankind is directly or indirectly used for food production. The use of water  for livestock and accompanying feed crop production also lead to considerable effect on the environment such as decrease in fresh-water supply, habitat and biodiversity loss. In addition, the problem of antibiotics being used as the growth promoters for animals which are kept in intensive farming, contributes to the development of multi-drug-resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. Everyone is aware of the chicken flu which can also lead to new possible epidemics or even pandemics, and as a result can kill millions of people.Many nutritional related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, which are associated with the over consumption of animal fat are also in the category of the problem. Because of all these serious issues, in vitro meat production system (IMPS) is really justifiable  thing compared to current meat producton system which has many negative impacts on health as well as on environment. 

 

Another reason for switching to animal-free meat is to have cruelty-free future of animals. It is the potential to save billions of animals per year. Billions of chickens are killed for their flesh each year. In fact, as we all know, most of the chickens are raised to be killed and eaten afterwards. The vast majority of these animals spend their lives in total imprisonment from the moment they get out of the egg until the day they are killed.

Biofabrication techniques to produce animal-free meat

The novel idea of producing meat without involving the slaughtering of animals by biofabrication of complex living tissues is really posing a great idea for the upcoming future. It is the solution to reduce the ill effects of conventional meat production system.

The process of producing clean meat involves two phases:

1. Proliferation phase (cells divide and multiply and results in increase in mass)

2. Maturation phase ( transition from proliferative cells to desired final cell types; cell types such as muscle fibers, fat cells, etc.)

How it is produced?

The initial stage to produce cultured meat is to select the starter cells which have a rapid rate of proliferation (reproduction rate). The cells which are selected are then treated by applying a solution that promotes growth of tissues (known as growth medium). This medium should have the necessary nutrients which promotes growth of tissues. After this step, they are then placed in a bio-reactor (supply cells with energy requirements). Then cells are grown on a scaffold which is responsible to direct the structure of three_dimentional meat.

Process involves using animal cells that regenerate themselves in large steel tanks. The processes involved in production of clean  meat produces less waste and consumes less energy. Traditionally the tissue engineering techniques used for regenerative medicines, are the same techniques used for cultured meat production.

When will the clean-meat products are available on a commercial scale?

Many of start-up companies claims, that their first clean meat product will arrive on the market in the time frame of three to five years and would be introduced at a premium price point.The future of clean meat also depends on the competitive landscape of the different companies, by which the development will continue to accelerate. The future of clean meat is really the need for the cruelty free future of animals as well as the scenarios of environment discussed above. 

-Rhythm Bhardwaj