Futurists tell us that we will be eating in vitro meat (IVM) – meat grown in a laboratory rather than on a farm – within five to ten years.
IVM was first investigated in the early years of this century and since then criticisms of farm animal production systems, particularly intensive ones, have escalated.
They include the excessive use of land, energy and water resources; local and global pollution; poor animal welfare; a contribution to climate change; and a unhealthy eating habits and disease in humans.
At the same time, human (and livestock) population growth continues, farming land is requisitioned for urban expansion and meat consumption per person is rising.
So we want a new source of meat – or do we?
View the full story here.