Biologists do not get tired of repeating - not so many cars on the streets of megacities or airliners swiftly flying through the sky have a negative impact on the climate. Meat consumption is much more harmful. It is hard to imagine, but beef entrecote, pork fillet and chicken thighs do more harm to the environment than all vehicles in the aggregate.
If we talk about animals, then the greatest harm to the environment is caused by cows, not pigs. Their maintenance implies large pastures, they drink a large amount of water and release gases, more precisely - harmful methane. What way out of this situation? Become a vegetarian or try to eat green chicken instead of pork or beef. Of course, there is another quite radical option - there is exclusively artificial meat.
There are five enterprises that are ready to offer consumers really tasty artificial meat in the very near future.
California-based Modern Meadow is planning to replace meat and leather products with technology that biochemists invented to produce artificial materials for medical use. Already, it is quite possible to create blood vessels, cartilage and skin tissue from cellular structures. Startup Modern Meadow plans to achieve process optimization and, as a result, produce meat with a 3D printer. According to the authors of the project, artificial meat will be 90% more environmentally friendly than usual.
Employees at Beyond Meat say that it was they who found a unique vegetable protein formula that resembles real meat in appearance, sensation and taste. The activities of Beyond Meat are actively supported by the founders of microblogging Twitter. It is worth noting that their products can already be found on shelves in supermarkets today. In the process of producing artificial meat, vegetable oils, carrots, soy and peas are used.
Eindhoven University of Technology from the Netherlands, as well as Amsterdam and Utrecht universities are not far behind colleagues from Beyond Meat. Thanks to government funding, scientists were able to create small pieces of meat from pig cell cultures. While the product is prohibited for use.
Professor Patrick Brown has been creating artificial meat at the prestigious American University of Stanford for more than a year. The product tastes almost identical to natural meat. While the development does not go beyond the walls of the laboratory, however, experts are sure that it is Brown who will release artificial meat to the masses.
Brazil, as you know, is one of the monopolists of meat production. In 2012, a group of researchers working on artificial meat was headed by our compatriot Vladimir Mironov. The Russian biochemist is convinced that this year he will be able to make artificial meat.
