Lab-grown meat could see a significant decrease in price if it continues its current trajectory, potentially matching conventional meat costs by 2030.
Cultivated meat, also known as lab-grown meat, is produced when animal cells are replicated using a bioreactor. The technique could reduce the reliance on farmlands. Livestock farming uses more than a quarter of the planet’s ice-free land and contributes to about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a McKinsey & Co. report.
But the cost of producing this alternative has provided a barrier to most consumers. The first lab-produced beef burger cost a whopping $325,000 back in 2013. Producers have since slashed production costs by 99 percent to roughly $17 per pound.
Still, hurdles remain in both broad sentiment and price parity. Regulatory challenges, the need for substantial investments, supply chains, and shifting global meat consumption habits stand in the path of lab-grown meat’s broader acceptance.
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Cultivated meat promises not only to match conventional meat in flavor but perhaps even surpass it. Freed from the constraints of industrial farming, manufacturers can replicate the cell lines of premium animals like ostrich or wild salmon.
