Long before the coronavirus began disrupting America’s trillion-dollar meat industry, climate-conscious eaters were looking for ways to reduce the amount of animal protein in their diets by choosing meat manufactured from plants or meat grown in a laboratory from cells of real animals.
“In order to reach optimal human and environmental health in the future, there is wide consensus that generally speaking all around the globe folks need to aim for a flexitarian diet,” says Sophie Egan, author of How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet. “What that basically means is an emphasis on plant-based foods.”
But are lab-grown meats in fact less harmful to the environment than livestock meat?
“There are varying degrees of how much better it will be, but in every single case there's not much debate over the fact that it would be better,” says Chase Purdy, author of Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food. That said, Purdy notes that few if any of the companies involved in cultured meat have produced life-cycle analyses of their products. As such he suggests approaching them with a certain healthy skepticism.
“Where are they getting their money? What does their process look like? What’s inside your liquid medium?” he asks, for example. “To tackle the 14.5% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions being tied to animal agriculture to not skeptically and thoughtfully consider the possibilities of how cultured meat could help us tackle those things I feel like that would be irresponsible.”
Tune-in Wednesday, August 12th, 2020 at 7 PM on Lakeshore Public Radio - 89.1 FM.
Guests:
Sophie Egan, Author, How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet
Chase Purdy, Author, Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food
Additional Speaker:
Riana Lynn, CEO of Journey Foods
This program was recorded via video on July 9, 2020.
