About 50 billion chickens are raised for meat in the world annually
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We have had two current stories in the Indian press about making meat in the lab: one in The Statesman on June 28, 2023, and the second one in The Hindu on July 9, 2023. They each focussed on the Indian efforts in making meat in the laboratory, moderately than killing animals on the farm or in specifically constructed slaughterhouses.
In reality, the making of meat in the laboratory has been occurring each in the U.S. and Europe. The thought is to not kill the animal for flesh however to put it aside and develop its meat in the laboratory. As the article in The Statesman factors out, there are a number of the reason why lab-cultured meat is a greater choice: there’s zero cruelty; lab meat will be made with a lot much less fats, no ldl cholesterol and no saturated fat, thus more healthy for the shopper; as soon as the lab meat is on the market in the future, it might turn out to be cheaper than typical meat and; lab meat may have much less environmental influence.
The final level is especially vital since it’s estimated that there are greater than 50 billion chickens raised for meat in the world annually. That works out to about 136 million chickens killed every day worldwide. The U.S. is the third most prolific nation for rooster farming. The web site Rooster Haus Rescue factors out that 23.3 million land animals are killed in the U.S. alone each single day. Similar numbers exist for pork and beef. All this additionally provides about 15% of greenhouse fuel emissions, affecting the setting as properly.
It is in opposition to this background that making meat in the laboratory is a cleaner and higher choice. In 2017, the Dutch scientist Dr Mark Post created beef in his laboratory. We have progressed remarkably since then in the discipline of culturing meat in the lab, which is each animal and environment-friendly. In reality, the U.S. Agriculture Department has given clearance to a number of non-public corporations that develop meat from animal cells in the lab. The group known as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in the U.S. has granted funds to 2 corporations (Upside Foods, and Good Meat) that make meat in the lab, moderately than by slaughtering animals. In India, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) supplied a grant to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad for culturing meat in the lab from animal cells, and Drs Jyotsna Dhawan and Madhusudana Rao did so efficiently. Currently, there are a couple of non-public labs in India that produce cultured meat.
How is cultured meat produced?
The agency Good Meat in the U.S. makes use of stem cells constructed from muscle and different organs of a dwelling animal, inserting these cells in Petri dishes with amino acids and carbohydrates to assist these cells multiply and develop. The cells are grown in metal tanks and produced. The product is then formed like cutlets and sausages and bought in the market. Cultured meat corporations in India do likewise.
