The first lab-grown burger cost around $330,000 to make in 2013. Prices have dropped since then, but not to the extent that they could compete with currently available fast food options. Using existing technologies, it would be impossible to create a competitively priced product, according to an analysis published last year.
Before any meat grown in bioreactors reaches our plates, it has to be approved by regulatory agencies. A couple of years ago, authorities in Singapore greenlighted a lab-made chicken nugget, made by California-based company Eat Just. But many believe that approval in other countries is a long way off.
Let’s say we overcome both of those hurdles and get a cheap cultured-meat product to market. Would anyone eat it?
A 2016 survey in the US found that around a third of people said that they would probably or definitely be willing to give up farmed meat for a lab-grown alternative. But a similar proportion said they wouldn’t. Many assumed that cultured meat would be less tasty, less appealing, and more expensive.
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It’s too soon to draw conclusions about how tasty or not cultured meat will be, given that barely anyone has tried it. But maybe things will stay that way. I can’t imagine cultured turkey ending up on our festive dinner table any time soon.
