Future Foods: Lab Meat, Vertical Farms, GM Crops
Food innovations like lab-grown meat and GM crops aim to make food supplies more secure and less damaging, but face doubts on cost, scale and safety.
Topics: science, technology, environment
Example
On 2 December 2020, the Singapore Food Agency became the first regulator in the world to approve cultivated (lab-grown) meat, allowing Eat Just's GOOD Meat chicken to be sold. In June 2023, the US approved cultivated chicken from Upside Foods and GOOD Meat. In Africa, scientists have developed virus-resistant GM cassava, a staple crop: in June 2021, Kenya's biosafety authority approved its environmental release for further trials before farmers can grow it.
Key facts
- On 2 December 2020 the Singapore Food Agency became the first regulator to approve cultivated meat for sale.
- In June 2023 the US approved cultivated chicken from Upside Foods and GOOD Meat.
- In June 2021 Kenya's National Biosafety Authority approved environmental release of GM cassava resistant to cassava brown streak disease, for further trials.
Limitations
- Approval is not adoption: cultivated meat is still sold in tiny volumes at high cost, and the Kenyan cassava still needed trials before farmers could plant it.
Evaluations
science evaluation
Support
Growing meat from animal cells, and editing crops to resist disease, show science offering new ways to produce food with less land.
Counterargument
Cultivated meat has not been produced at large scale or low cost, and its energy use could be high depending on the power source.
Rebuttal
Most food technologies started expensive; the regulatory approvals are the first step, and scale is the next test.
Additional support
Cassava brown streak disease can destroy much of a farmer's crop, so a resistant variety could protect the food of millions in East Africa.
technology evaluation
Support
Singapore's approval made it a test-bed for food technology, attracting firms that want a regulator willing to review new products.
Counterargument
Several US states, including Florida in 2024, banned cultivated meat, showing that technology approval can be reversed by politics.
Rebuttal
Mixed reactions are normal for new foods; acceptance will depend on price, taste and trust built over time.
Additional support
Singapore's 'Singapore Food Story' strategy treats food technology as part of national resilience, since the country imports over 90% of its food.
environment evaluation
Support
If made with clean energy, cultivated meat could cut the land and methane footprint of livestock, a major source of emissions.
Counterargument
Life-cycle studies are early and uncertain; some suggest cultivated meat could have a higher carbon footprint than chicken if made with fossil energy.
Rebuttal
The environmental case depends on the power grid and production method, so it should be judged on evidence as factories scale up.
Additional support
Disease-resistant crops can reduce the need to clear new land to make up for lost harvests.
Sources
- Food Safety News (2020-12-03): Eat Just Inc. gets approval in Singapore for lab-grown chicken
- ABC News (2023-06-21): USDA approves 1st ever 'cell-cultivated meat' for 2 American manufacturers
- Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (2021-06-22): Kenya National Biosafety Authority approves GM cassava (press release)