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A grilled steak from the bioreactor. Meat grown from animal cells in a factory is no longer a dream for the future. Companies all over the world are working hard to develop alternatives to conventional meat. The market is booming.
In 2020, Singapore became the first country to greenlight the sale of lab-grown chicken. So-called cultured meat could also soon be in stores in the US.
“There is huge potential!”
And Switzerland? Greens National Council member Meret Schneider (30) is convinced that our country has the best conditions to be a pioneer in this promising market. “There is huge potential!” she believes. But today there would be too many hurdles for start-ups developing new foods such as cultured meat. “The approval procedures take a long time and there is not enough transparency when it comes to market approval,” says the Zurich politician.
In an initiative, Schneider is calling on the federal government to simplify and speed up approval and approval procedures for lab meat and plant-based alternatives. “Other countries are making tremendous progress in this area. We must not oversleep this development.” Because: Schneider is sure that such new foods will soon end up on our plates.
The question is whether Switzerland is on the market or not. And of course, being Green, she is also concerned about the environment. It is controversial whether lab-grown meat really outperforms a conventional biscuit in terms of environmental balance.
SVP butcher Egger supports demands
But Schneider does not only want the development of cultured meat to be pushed further. In a second initiative, the National Council also calls on the federal government to promote not only the cultivation, but also the processing of vegetable proteins such as lentils, peas and soybeans. For example, research is being done into cheese made from non-animal milk proteins. And there are meat alternatives made from pea protein.
A hamburger for more than 250,000 francs – without buns and salad. This is how much the first hamburger from the lab cost in 2013. Research has now reduced these costs by a factor of 80. However, there is still a long way to go before a mass product emerges from the Petri dish.
Probably the most common meat substitutes are made from natural, protein-rich basic products such as peas or soy. A puree is made from the relevant basic ingredient and by adding chemical and natural additives and spices, an attempt is made to make a copy that resembles the original product as much as possible.
The second option is to grow the meat in a petri dish in the laboratory. The so-called in vitro meat is made from animal muscle stem cells and then propagated in the laboratory as cell and tissue cultures. This already works well with minced meat and chicken products. In 2020, the California company Eat Just in Singapore received permission to sell chicken nuggets and breast fillets from the laboratory. The production of a steak is much more complicated. Muscle and fat cells have to be intertwined and then mature together in an incubator – this is the only way to create the characteristic structure.
The third option is fermentation. The same mechanisms apply here as in the production of beer or yoghurt. Large amounts of protein with a meat-like texture are grown using micro-organisms. Dominique Schlund
A hamburger for more than 250,000 francs – without buns and salad. This is how much the first hamburger from the lab cost in 2013. Research has now reduced these costs by a factor of 80. However, there is still a long way to go before a mass product emerges from the Petri dish.
Probably the most common meat substitutes are made from natural, protein-rich basic products such as peas or soy. A puree is made from the relevant basic ingredient and by adding chemical and natural additives and spices, an attempt is made to make a copy that resembles the original product as much as possible.
The second option is to grow the meat in a petri dish in the laboratory. The so-called in vitro meat is made from animal muscle stem cells and then propagated in the laboratory as cell and tissue cultures. This already works well with minced meat and chicken products. In 2020, the California company Eat Just in Singapore received permission to sell chicken nuggets and breast fillets from the laboratory. The production of a steak is much more complicated. Muscle and fat cells have to be intertwined and then mature together in an incubator – this is the only way to create the characteristic structure.
The third option is fermentation. The same mechanisms apply here as in the production of beer or yoghurt. Large amounts of protein with a meat-like texture are grown using micro-organisms. Dominique Schlund
These are demands that even SVP National Councilor Mike Egger (30) is open to. The trained butcher thinks it is important that Switzerland does not lag behind in the field of new foods such as cultured meat, but researches these new variants. However, unlike Schneider, there is no doubt in his mind that the federal government should subsidize the development of such products.
Egger is not concerned that the lab-grown vegetarian schnitzel will displace the classic pork schnitzel. “The world’s population is growing and that is why we need more food.” It is examined whether the variant from the laboratory is more environmentally friendly than conventional production. “In view of this, plant-based alternatives are not a competitor, but a complement,” he says.
The Bundesrat is open
The Federal Council has so far spoken out against the direct promotion of meat alternatives. The market is developing “relatively dynamically” and additional government intervention is not necessary, says the state government in 2020 in a statement initiated by Green National Councilor Kilian Baumann (42). On the other hand, he was open to the question of lowering the thresholds for market testing of new products.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
