Bringing Home the Synthetic Bacon: Lab-Grown Meat to Hit Market Within Five Years

This week saw the global debut of a new kind of farming start-up, Memphis Meats. Claiming that their lab grown meat will reach the market in less than five years, the company was founded by a Cardiologist, a Stem Cell Biologist, and a Biomedical Engineer.

The production of meat through conventional farming is not an efficient process. Currently, twenty three calories of feed are required to yield one calorie of beef, but the Tennessee based start-up has claimed to have reduced the input energy to just three calories per calorie of meat produced. Combined with the economic and environmental benefits of the use of less land and water, Memphis Meats could present the solution to the ever growing population crisis.

To grow the meat, cells with a high capacity to regenerate are isolated from live cows, pigs, and birds and harvested in bioreactor tanks containing oxygen, sugars, and other nutrients. Aside from the obvious economic and environmental benefits, the team argues that they can modify the amount of fat and salt the meat will contain, resulting in a healthier alternative to conventional meat.

The five year window allows for the company to reduce the cost of production from its current stance at $18 000 per pound of beef to the $11 beef burger target. Find out more and watch speciality chef Dave Anderson serve up a synthetic meatball here:

Photo: Memphis Meats