Show Notes for Lab Grown Meats Podcast

Hey everybody! Thanks for tuning into the podcast. I really hope you found good information listening and learning about lab-grown meats. I always try to research any topic I teach on so I can give you the best information out there. Below I have some notes I took and links where I found the articles plus additional articles you might find interesting. I hope it helps! There’s a ton of information now coming out about this new industry. And since information is the key to success I encourage you to dig deep and find out all you can so you can feed your family in the best possible way.

From Scientific American articles written by Emily Waltz and Joanna Thompson

• In June, 2023 the US Department of Ag gave approval to GOOD Meats and UPSIDE Foods to grow and offer for sale chicken from chicken cells but there are at least 156 companies trying to gain approval
• Remember that lab-grown meat is different from the plant-based protein “meats” out there. Those options are meat free. They are not made from animal proteins. These options are made from animal proteins.
• At this point it is for chicken only in US - not beef or pork
• https://www.scientificamerican... (you have to have a subscription to Scientific American so I was unable to link these two full articles and I’m sorry about that but I do think this is a very good journal if you’re interested in such things. Also Emily Waltz has an article out on lab grown milk you can google to read about that’s in a British scientific journal.)
  

-the selling point is that the lab grown meat is “sustainable and cruelty free”

-the meat has no waste - there are no organs or bones - just meat. Think nugget

• 90% of Americans eat meat. Will they choose this option???
• This is a relatively untested channel of providing meat so don’t know how sustainable or realistic it will be.
• It costs $20,000 per kilogram to produce cultured meat!! (That’s $44,092.50 per pound) I should’ve done that before the show - SORRY!!!

The process of LAB - GROWN MEAT:

Start with cells from an egg and extract stem cells. Take stem cells plus fetal bovine serum and grow in a bioreactor.

-bioreactor - “and engineered system deployed to facilitate the growth of biological mass through he transformation or degradation of material fed to the reactor” (Science Direct)

- so fetal bovine serum - is this actually “cruelty free” or just a work around?

So you start with cells from the animal and combine them with serum taken from animals set to be harvested and grow them in a cluster. Then you transfer the “cluster” to a “single cell suspension” or “scaffold” until they become the “cut” of meat you want.

So far with salmon it took 3 years to grow in suspension in the bioreactor (https://www.nature.com/article...)

What is a stem cell? A stem cell is basically the body’s raw material. It is a cell which can grow into a functional cell as needed. It doesn’t change functions throughout its life cycle. Adults have stem cells in small numbers in bone marrow and fat, for example. Adult stem cells are limited in their ability to create new and different cells but we do have them. Historically stem cells have been taken from embryos at 2-5 days of life.

More links:

https://www.nature.com/article...

https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/n...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/c...

Again, I hope this helps. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always available by phone or text.

Aliceson