Is Lab-grown Meat Good News For Animals?
Brooke Cagle/Unsplash
, FAL

The Singapore Food Agency has approved “chicken bites” containing meat made from real chicken cells that were grown outside of a chicken’s body. Alongside similar news from Israel, the Singapore ruling is being hailed as a watershed moment for cultured meat and the broader field of cellular agriculture.

Admittedly, these bites aren’t quite what cellular agriculture’s biggest advocates might hope they would be. Some problems are decidedly practical. For example, the bites remain pricier than meat produced by farming and killing chickens. This will be a major obstacle for consumer acceptance. But the bites’ producer – Eat Just – is planning to increase production, bringing down the costs.

Some problems, however, are ethical. The bites are made using foetal bovine serum – a particularly gruesome slaughter byproduct widely used in biomedical research. This, too, is a problem that can be overcome. The next production line, Eat Just claims, will replace foetal bovine serum with a plant-based alternative.

Eat Just’s cultured chicken pasta. (is lab grown meat good news for animals)
Eat Just’s cultured chicken pasta.
Eat Just

But we can also ask about the ethics of cellular agriculture more broadly. The prospect of cultured meat taking a share of the global meat industry sounds, on the face of it, like good news. Today’s meat industry is hellish for the tens of billions of animals (trillions, including fish) it kills annually and is an environmental disaster.

Cultured meat offers the opportunity for a different meat industry: one that does not rest on the suffering and death of animals; one that does not risk the development of pandemics and antibiotic resistant superbugs; one that uses less space and releases less carbon into the atmosphere.


innerself subscribe graphic


But not everyone is a fan. Unsurprisingly, those with a stake in the meat industry attack cultured meat. And important questions can be raised about whether the most environmentally friendly food system would contain grazing animals or not. But much interesting criticism comes from a more surprising source: animal advocates. Though plenty of prominent advocates – including organisations, writers, and academics – offer (cautious) support for cellular agriculture, others are more critical.

Against (cultured) meat?

One common argument against cultured meat goes something like this. Meat affirms a moral hierarchy with humans above and animals below. To give animals their due, therefore, we should challenge the place meat has in diets, cultures and economies. Cultured meat does not do this. In fact, it reaffirms meat’s place: meat is so important, the argument goes, that we’ll go to all this trouble to produce it.

Criticism like this used to make me think that cultured meat wouldn’t be part of a world where animals had been truly liberated. But I still thought that cultured meat could help us take steps toward that world, and argued as much in 2016. My support for cultured meat was, if you like, pragmatic. I would have seen Singapore’s chicken bites as good news, but not great news.

In my current research, however, I ask whether there are ways that we can champion animals without downplaying the importance of food. And this has led me to view cultured meat more warmly.

We can accept that meat has troubling associations. But let’s remember that associations and perceptions of food can change – quickly. My grandparents’ school dinners included whale; I’ve never seriously considered whales as edible. Meanwhile, I doubt any of my grandparents ever ate sushi – without exaggeration, they would have struggled to recognise it as food. I first ate (fish-free) sushi in my teens, and I’ve eaten it since.

Even if meat is tied up in beliefs (latent or otherwise) about human superiority, it need not be in the future. Perhaps, among our grandchildren, very different ideas about what meat is and what it means will predominate.

But why not just abandon meat altogether? My answer is simple. Many humans – and let’s not forget that humans are animals too – value access to meat. Some like the taste of it. Some associate it with good times and with the people they love. It forms part of cultural or religious identities. These things are important – and they give us a reason to want meat to remain available in the future. This is not just pragmatic animal activism, it’s a recognition that meat, despite its problems, can be a good thing.

Let me not be misunderstood. I do not think that the value many people place in meat justifies the awful things that animal agriculture does to animals, to our planet and to our public health. Not at all. I am a vegan, and I think you should be too. But the importance that people place in meat matters enough for me to raise a loud cheer for the news from Singapore.

This is news that gives us a glimpse of a possible future in which animals are not hurt in the pursuit of food, but where meat is available for those who value it. It gives us a glimpse of a future where – to coin a phrase – we can have our cow and eat her too.

About the AuthorThe Conversation

Josh Milburn, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Philosophy, University of Sheffield

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Nutrition books on from Amazon's Best Sellers list

"The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100"

by Dan Buettner

In this book, author Dan Buettner shares recipes from the world's "Blue Zones," regions where people live the longest and healthiest lives. The recipes are based on whole, unprocessed foods and emphasize vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. The book also includes tips for following a plant-based diet and living a healthy lifestyle.

Click for more info or to order

"Medical Medium Cleanse to Heal: Healing Plans for Sufferers of Anxiety, Depression, Acne, Eczema, Lyme, Gut Problems, Brain Fog, Weight Issues, Migraines, Bloating, Vertigo, Psoriasis, Cys"

by Anthony William

In this book, author Anthony William offers a comprehensive guide to cleansing and healing the body through nutrition. He provides evidence-based recommendations for foods to include and avoid, as well as meal plans and recipes to support the cleanse. The book also includes information on how to address specific health concerns through nutrition.

Click for more info or to order

"The Forks Over Knives Plan: How to Transition to the Life-Saving, Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet"

by Alona Pulde and Matthew Lederman

In this book, authors Alona Pulde and Matthew Lederman offer a step-by-step guide to transitioning to a whole-food, plant-based diet. They provide evidence-based recommendations for nutrition, along with practical advice for shopping, meal planning, and preparation. The book also includes recipes and meal plans to support the transition.

Click for more info or to order

"The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in 'Healthy' Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain"

by Dr. Steven R. Gundry

In this book, Dr. Steven R. Gundry provides a controversial perspective on nutrition, arguing that many so-called "healthy" foods can actually be harmful to the body. He provides evidence-based recommendations for optimizing nutrition and avoiding these hidden dangers. The book also includes recipes and meal plans to help readers implement the Plant Paradox program.

Click for more info or to order

"The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom"

by Melissa Hartwig Urban and Dallas Hartwig

In this book, authors Melissa Hartwig Urban and Dallas Hartwig offer a comprehensive guide to the Whole30 program, a 30-day nutrition plan designed to promote health and wellness. The book provides information on the science behind the program, as well as practical advice for shopping, meal planning, and preparation. The book also includes recipes and meal plans to support the program.

Click for more info or to order