For the last 4 weeks I have written and performed a speech about lab grown meat. The things I did well were doing lots of research, organising the facts and putting visuals in with it. The things I need to work on are practicing before I actually do the speech and making sure the speech makes sense.
Down below is my speech and slide.
Do you like meat? Because there is a way to eat meat and not have an animal killed?
It is called lab grown meat or cultivated meat. In this speech I will be talking about why cultivated meat is better for the environment, how it is made and why it is better than farming animals for their meat and products. Therefore let’s get into it.
First lab made meat requires only a small sample of tissue, it does not require an animal to be killed. The cells can be taken from a living animal. Some of the nutrient baths used to grow the cells contain blood from slaughtered animals, but others do not require the blood from a dead animal. A slaughterhouse is a facility designed to kill and sometimes the first cut does not work so it puts the animal in extreme pain. The conditions of the slaughterhouse are revolting; some animals are killed and the meat is not eaten.
Under the same scenario, researchers found that cultured meat is more environmentally friendly , but with a wider range. Cultured meat’s global warming potential could be between 80% lower to 26% above that beef production at the moment. Raising livestock for human consumption generates nearly 15% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, which is greater than all the transportation emissions combined. It also uses nearly 70% of agricultural land, contributing to deforestation, biodiversity loss and water pollution. Cows contribute more than double the greenhouse gas emissions than the next highest contributor, lambs, due to how long it takes the former to reproduce and grow until ready for slaughter.
The production process can be broken down into four steps:
- A sample of stem cells is taken from a live animal. Stem cells are cells that can develop into other specialised types of cells found in the body, for example, blood, liver or muscle cells.
- The stem cells are put in large tanks called bioreactors, containing culture media that recreate a similar environment to that which the cells would find in the animal’s body and it provides them with the nutrients they need to multiply.
- The culture media is changed so that stem cells can differentiate into the three main components of meat: muscle, fat, and connective tissue.
- These cells are separated and arranged to “build” the type of meat that is being produced. This is called scaffolding. A scaffold is an edible material that supports the organisation of meat cells into the desired shape, for example, a steak, or mincemeat. The scaffold does more than just hold cells together. It also carries nutrients and helps them differentiate even further. In general, complex structures like steaks are more challenging to reproduce than burgers.
The process is expected to take between 2-8 weeks, depending on what kind of meat is being cultivated. Then it is harvested, processed like conventional meat products, and then packaged, cooked or otherwise prepared for consumption.
I have gone through A lot of points so far just like why cultivated meat is better for the environment, how it is made and why it is better than farming animals for their meat and products and how it is made. So as I am coming to the end, what do you think of Lab grown meat?
