(Daily360.com) BioMADE, a public-private company that has received $500 million in funding from the Department of Defense, is looking for opportunities to serve synthetic, cultured meat to military members. The website says they are asking for proposals to use bio-industrial manufacturing as a method to reduce the CO2 footprint of food that is served.
Lab-grown meat products are not approved for human consumption in the U.S. with the exception of two local California companies. The technology is still experimental and involves taking animal muscle tissue and using a complex process to replicate the cells into edible pieces of meat.
Jack Hubbard of the Center for the Environment and Welfare strongly denounces attempts to use the military as “guinea pigs” to test the emerging technology of lab-grown meat. He said the synthetic meat industry is politically driven and inherently “anti-farmer.”
A study that was published in 2023 indicates that cultured meat products may have a worse carbon footprint, despite it being promoted as a technology to mitigate the effects of climate change. The study’s author said the synthetic meat products are purified using pharmaceutical methods which will cause more harm to the environment. The study also indicated the costs would be significantly higher for the effort it takes to produce one synthetic piece of meat for human consumption.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association put out a press release denouncing the proposal to feed cultured meat to the U.S. military. They said it is “outrageous” to spend tax dollars to feed “heroes like lab rats.” The press release further stated that American beef producers raise the best meat with the lowest carbon footprint.
A previous official for the Department of Defense wrote an op-ed for Slate in 2021 in which he said addressing climate change is imperative for national defense. He said finding alternative ways of producing meat is one of the immediate ways the U.S. can meet that goal.
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