“Franken Meats” and the Rise Cellular Agriculture

According to the January 29, 2018 issue of Ag Funder news, Tyson, Cargill and other well-established food industry giants have invested big money in Memphis Meats, a San Francisco Bay area tech company. Why would food companies pour big money into a tech company? Because Memphis Meats is in a race with several other companies to raise meat in a lab. “Lab grown” meat must start from cultured stem cells taken from a piece of meat from a living animal. Scientists at Memphis Meats can customize meat to contain whatever vitamin, mineral or protein profile that they wish. They can create a custom flavor profile or select specific genetic traits by taking cells via biopsy from animals that possess the traits desired.

So far, Memphis Meats has used its cell-replicating technology to develop chicken, beef and duck meat. They’re working on producing many other food items such as milk and eggs. One pound of chicken can be raised, oops, I mean cultured for $3,800 per pound. According to the Ag Funder news article mentioned above,  Memphis Meats has developed a meat ball for us to try. You can, I’m not!

Many times, in the past scientists thought they were smarter than Mother Nature and traditional agriculturists. They were wrong, often with disastrous effects on our health. Hydrogenated fats (margarine), sugar substitutes, and a variety of other failed un-natural food improvements have mostly shown that you can’t improve upon Mother Nature. My science background might suggest that this futuristic endeavor should intrigue me. It doesn’t. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that suggests that the quality, safety, and health benefits of food have gone steadily downhill since the advent of agriculture starting about 10,oooo years ago.

Open Pasture Meats in Charlotte, North Carolina is an innovative food producer that defines an anti “Franken Meat" company. They are working to bring back and offer the healthy pre-agricultural benefits of grass-fed, free-range, open-pasture, and wild-caught sea food to todays food consumer. Memphis Meats and Open Pasture Meats are absolute food industry polar opposites.  

I’ve spent some time in a lab and was raised in a rural farming/logging family. The thought of trading brilliant life-giving rays of the sun for bright lights of a lab, to me, feels creepy and wrong. What do you think?

Wayne Coolidge Jr., M.Ed., CHES is a scholar-practitioner, author, and speaker. He owns Healthy Dynamic Living, an innovative health promotion consulting firm.