Author Topic: Clean Meat - Will you eat it ?  (Read 1759 times)

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Offline msj

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Re: Clean Meat - Will you eat it ?
« Reply #15 on: February 25, 2018, 09:15:11 am »
Looks like the fight is on: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/the-fight-against-fake-meat-has-officially-begun.html

The usual “we are protecting consumers from those evil competitors” from those vested in the status quo industry:

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The U.S. Cattlemen's Association is looking to draw a line in the sand and launch what could be the first salvo in a long battle against plant-based foods. Earlier this month, the association filed a 15-page petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for an official definition for the term "beef," and more broadly, "meat."

"While at this time alternative protein sources are not a direct threat to the beef industry, we do see improper labeling of these products as misleading," said Lia Biondo, the association's policy and outreach director. "Our goal is to head off the problem before it becomes a larger issue."


Countered by the up and comers who want to challenge Goliath:

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Not everyone sees it that way. Ethan Brown, founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, said consumers already know what they're looking for when they're browsing the grocery store aisles. But he doesn't necessarily see the petition as a bad thing.

"I think it actually could help us more than it could hurt us because it starts the national dialogue around what really is meat, and if the origin of meat really matters to the consumer," said Brown.


Of course, there is a difference here:

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Clean meat refers to "meat" grown in a lab from a small amount of animal stem cells. This kind of meat isn't on the market yet, but it's in development. Plant-based meat is anything that mimics traditional meat but is made mainly using plant ingredients.

Now I suppose this is something the government should regulate.

Heaven forbid if someone expecting real flesh meat will accidently buy plant based meat.

I can not even imagine the horror upon discovery that tofurkey is not actually turkey!

Clean meat is perhaps a little less obvious though and I look forward to trying some some day.

Humans are terrible at predicting the future but it’s so fun lets throw out some projections anyway:

1) the current meat industry (MI) will use lobbying in government to regulate the alternative meat industry (AMI) hopefully out of existence (from the MI pov). This will just help increase the costs for all food but who cares since food inflation has been so low for so long that this is a non-issue at this time (i.e. food budgets in western countries are a fraction of what they were 3 generations ago).

2) Technology will find a way to make “clean meat” and even vegetable based “meat” so competive that the AMI will see some real noticeable growth.  The MI will continue to use government lobbying and regulation to protect their interests while the AMI lobbies for their interets.

3) A president /governors/premiers will be elected in the US and Canada based on political ideals of either protecting the MI (conservatives) or protecting the environment (progressives). 

Eventually the progressives will start to win and the MI will see possible bans on how they grow their product.

4) Just like Trump ending the coal ban too little too late, the same will happen to the MI.  A future poltician will do his/her best to bring back the old time meat industry to some sucess as foodies of the future appreciate the novelty of their paleo-animal-cruelty type diets. 

Of course, they will be marketed differently than that: pictures of solitary animals grazing in the open plains will romanticize and continue the lie that the MI propagates currently.

5) In the end, consumers will benefit by more choice, interesting new products, and less environmental impact. However, at the cost of only a few remaining jobs as the AMI will be easier to digitize than the MI.







I've gotta have more cow bell! -Bruce Dickinson