Sources are linked throughout the text below.
Reel Transcript:
In 2021, Bill Gates said, "All rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef." Well, he just got one step closer to that utopian dream. On June 21, 2023, the USDA gave the first ever approval to two food tech startups, Upside Foods and Good Meat, to sell test tube chicken. It's actually cultivated in steel tanks, but you get the idea. Frankenchicken sandwich anyone? Live chicken cells are nourished in a broth of nutrients, then they do what stem cells do... create progeny all over the place. The masses of lab-grown chicken muscle are then shaped into familiar cutlets (boneless, no doubt) and sold retail.
At least one of the companies is using genetic engineering to promote continuous growth of the cells. It's a little worrying that the proprietary processes used will not likely be open to scrutiny.
With the mainstream media fawning all over them, they enthusiastically claim lab-grown meat will bring an end to the "high environmental impact" of the present meat industry. And then UC Davis research rained on their parade. They reported the impact of lab-grown meat is likely to be "orders of magnitude higher" than the real thing.
Lots of consumers are apparently averse to their chicken having a steel vat for a mother, but not to worry, the USDA gave the industry $10M of your money to address consumer acceptance.
Now, I'm just wondering should we be genetically modifying meat of animals that took hundreds of thousands of years to develop into a favorite menu item? It is just me, or is that arrogance that is likely to end in tears?
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