What once sounded like a science-fiction story has now become a reality in the past few years around the globe. Scientists, as well as the food industry, are working on alternative meat production methods, called cultivated meat, where real animal meat is made by growing animal cells outside the animal’s body in a controlled environment, without the need to raise or slaughter animals.  The first cultivated meat burger patty was shown, cooked and tasted back in 2013.

As the topic of cultivated meat has been gaining public interest, FOUR PAWS is closely monitoring the progress.  Here is what we know so far:

With conventional animal products globally accounting for over 85 billion¹ lives of animals per year, 83 % of agricultural land use² and 16.5%³ of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, "Cultivated Meat" could help us conserve our limited resources and has the potential to save billions of animals per year from inhumane conditions and eventual slaughter. This is an initiative FOUR PAWS is strongly in favor of.

Although, the large-scale manufacturing of cultured meat is still costly, due to the price of cell culture and skilled labor, the costs are drastically decreasing, which highlights the potential of making "Cultivated Meat" available to the masses in the not-so-distant future.

We currently don’t know what all the consequences for farm animals and their welfare will be, but the advancements in recent years is encouraging, and there is optimism around the potential positive impact this meat successor would have. As this innovation is still developing, along with an ever-increasing interest, we presume that a massive positive change in the farming of animals is likely to happen.

For every 100 kilocalories you feed a cow, you only get 2 kilocalories of beef back, which means, 98% is lost in the process of producing beef. For lamb, 96% is lost during conversion, for pork it’s 91% and 87% for poultry. This is why eating less meat would mean eliminating large losses of calories, thus being able to feed more people around the world along with reducing the amount of farmland needed. This would free up billions of acres for natural vegetation, forests, and ecosystems to return.

The majority of animal-based products available in supermarkets stem from factory farming. This farming system is not built around the animals' natural needs; instead, the animals are forced to adapt to the system. As a result, their welfare is compromised in favor of maximizing economic efficiency.