Mankind's appetite for meat isn't doing the planet any favors. The methane gas created by the global cattle population alone puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than automobiles, according to the UN. But there may be a middle ground to appease meat-lovers and lessen the negative effects: Memphis Meats is trying to cook up gastro-enviro-salvation in a petri dish with its new kill-free meat offerings.
Rather than raising an animal on a farm and then slaughtering it, animal protein cells are administered "oxygen and nutrients such as sugars and minerals" until they grow into steak-sized samples. The process takes between nine and 21 days, and the company's cardiologist CEO Uma Valeti recently assured the world that "it is sustainable as well as cruelty free."
"The meatball that changed the world," Valeti boasts in a video released by his company. Memphis Meats claims that their process creates 90% less greenhouse gas than traditional agriculture.
"We love meat. But like most Americans, we don't love the many negative side effects of conventional meat production: environmental degradation, a slew of health risks, and food products that contain antibiotics, fecal matter, pathogens, and other contaminants," the company explains on its site. And while the concept behind their product is nothing new, Memphis Meats appears to be the first purveyor to bring laboratory no-kill meat to market in a fully-realized way.
It remains to be seen whether or not the lab meat will get gobbled up by modern omnivores, and it's a bit strange to hear lines like, "We watched how the meatball reacted when it was put in a pan." But it's also comforting to know meat will still be served medium-rare, one way or the other.
