With the potential to save billions of animals per year, improve the environment, and reinvent big agriculture as we know it, startup companies are clamoring to create the first lab-grown or “clean” meat that will reach consumers’ plates.
Bay Area company UPSIDE Foods created a cruelty-free ground beef last year and has now successfully produced lab-grown duck and chicken. At a formal unveiling, guests were treated to samples of southern fried chicken tenders and duck à l’orange.
The Chicken Tender That’s Tender to Chickens
UPSIDE Foods recognizes the importance of creating slaughter-free chicken, as approximately 9 billion chickens are killed for their flesh each year in the United States alone. In fact, more chickens are raised and killed for food than all other land animals combined. The vast majority of these animals spend their lives in total confinement—from the moment they hatch until the day they’re killed.
A Cruelty-Free Future
Using animal cells that regenerate themselves in large steel tanks, UPSIDE Foods’ method of meat production uses 1/10th the water and 1/100th the land that’s currently used to raise billions of cows, pigs, and chickens each year. The process also produces less waste and cuts energy consumption in half. Companies such as Tyson and Hormel have taken note of this cruelty-free method. (If you can’t beat them, join them, right?) Tyson has gone so far as to start a venture capital fund to invest in this new frontier.
Other companies such as Mosa Meat and SuperMeat are competing to be the first to bring “clean meat” to consumers’ plates. The startups’ current efforts are focused on lowering the cost of production, and slaughter-free “clean meat” should hit the market within five years.
PETA has been investing in in vitro research for the past six years, because we believe it’s the first important step toward realizing the dream of one day putting environmentally sound, humanely produced real meat into the hands and mouths of the people who insist on eating animal flesh.
Since this new technology isn’t available yet, going vegan is still the best way to help animals killed for food. Since so many restaurants offer vegan options and tasty products are readily available on store shelves, there’s never been a better time to leave animals off your plate. Order our free vegan starter kit to get started!
