Lab grown cell-based meat start-ups facing setbacks

The dream to serve people with cell-based meat is facing challenges.

Memphis Meats is a California based start-up seeking to spare the environment from exploitation and the animals from slaughter.

But, so far the new generation of lab farmers face scrutiny from U.S consumers, regulators and food-safety advocates.

“We take cells from high quality animals. We feed them with the nutrients of these cells need to become meat. And once they become meat, we harvest it and we cook it into the products we love to eat”, said CEO, Uma Valeti.

The cardiologist who co-founded Memphis Meats in 2015 after witnessing the power of stem cells to treat diseases says the project is all about increasing choices.

“We’re actually preserving the choice of eating meat for people. Instead of saying give up eating meat or eat a meat alternative we’re saying continue eating the meat that you love, let’s show you how we can continue to produce it and supply it in way that you will get behind”, Valeti added.

Another start-up, Finless Foods is making seafood and cultured fish and has produced cell-based versions of salmon. It is now working on bluefin tuna.

“The ocean is a very fragile ecosystem, and we are really driving it to the brink of collapse and so we think by moving human consumption of seafood out of the ocean and onto land and creating it in this cleaner way, we can basically do something that’s better for everybody. Better, better for the ocean, better for the planet and better for ourselves”, CEO, Michael Selden said.

In June, a report released by consulting firm A.T. Kearney predicts that by 2040, cell-based meat will make up 35 percent of meat consumed worldwide. It said plant-based alternatives will compose 25 percent.

Meanwhile, Memphis Meats hopes to sell its cell-based meat within the next two years, starting with restaurants, then moving into grocery stores. That’s if it passes regulatory inspections in the United States.

AP