Meat and eggs — grown in a lab ¹

Once the stuff of science fiction, lab-grown meat is finally here. And it may save a lot more than the lives of farm animals.

Lab-grown — or clean — meat holds potential for both the environment and the health of humanity. In countries like the United States and Canada, farming accounts for about 8% of each country’s carbon dioxide emissions. Raising livestock also contributes to methane emissions, produced when animals like cows and sheep burp or pass winds, a gas said to be 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming².

To address this meaty problem, US-based start-up JUST (a manufacturer of plants-based foods; formerly known as Hampton Creek) has partnered with e-commerce leader Alibaba Group and Alibaba-owned supermarket Hema to sell eggs in China made from mung beans. This could significantly reduce the environmental impact of the poultry industry in a country that consumes some one billion chicken eggs a day³. Aside from its environmental benefits, mung beans hold egg-xtra health advantages for consumers as they are loaded with nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and vitamins⁴.

Having set a goal of reducing traditional meat consumption by 50%, China is also set to import “clean meat” from companies that produce meat grown from cultured cells in labs. These companies include Israeli biotech start-up SuperMeat, which is developing “meal-ready” chicken made from chicken cells⁵.

In a similar vein, and currently undergoing development, Israeli start-up Aleph Farms has also created the world’s first lab-grown, slaughter-free steak — a milestone on the road to bringing cruelty-free and more environmentally friendly meat products to the market⁶.

Environmental pressures have also touched the investment world with socially responsible investing becoming more mainstream. Find out more at www.eastspring.com