Lab-grown meat is coming soon—but will anyone eat it?

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Image: Blair Kunkel

As 2018 wraps up, the average American is poised to have eaten 222 pounds of beef over the course of the year. Accomplishing this dubious achievement meant that every American ate the equivalent of 2.4 quarter-pound burgers a day. So, we can safely say that Americans like their beef.

Lab-grown beef may very well be the path forward. In 2008, it was estimated that just half a pound of lab-grown beef would cost $1 million. Then, on August 5, 2013, the first lab-grown hamburger was eaten. It cost $325,000 and took two years to make. Just two years later, the same amount of lab-grown beef costs about $11 to make.

Lab-grown beef checks almost all of the boxes: it doesn’t require animal cruelty, and a study in Environmental Science and Technology showed that it could cut emissions from conventionally produced meat by up to 96 percent and cut down on the land use required for meat production by 99 percent.

The question is, will we eat it? …. [E]ven if lab-grown meat tastes like the real thing, there’s still an aversion to the concept. In [an] article for Engadgetone person said “Cultured meat just isn’t normal ….” Another said she wouldn’t eat lab-grown fish because, “It’s disgusting” …. Learning how the meat is actually produced may put some people’s mind at ease.

Read full, original article: Lab-grown meat’s steady march to your plate

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