Test-tube treats for the taste buds on horizon

Meat grown from stem cells in a lab may sound strange - but it could have benefits for the environment

As a starter, you could choose lab sweetbreads, friendly foie gras or in vitro oysters and then move on to a ravioli of cultured Bresse chicken or homegrown charcuteries for a main course.

The restaurant website - www.bistro-invitro.com - looks authentic, but it doesn't provide an address or a contact telephone number for reservations.

It's only after scrolling down a bit that you find that the bistro does not yet exist.

"Bistro In Vitro is a fictitious restaurant with a menu of in vitro dishes that may one day end up on your plate," the site says.

The restaurant may be fictitious, but the kind of food it discusses is far from a fantasy.

In September, China and Israel signed a $300 million deal by which China would fund Israeli scientists trying to master the production of laboratory meat, grown from stem cells. When the scientists have managed to hone their techniques and reduced the cost, China will be able to start producing the meat for its own market.

It is not like meat substitutes such as tofu. It is grown from stem cells in a lab, rather than in a body.

The technology is not new; the first lab meat burger was produced in London in 2013. That burger was estimated to have cost ??215,000 ($285,560; 245,000 euros) to make and was funded by Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google. People who tasted the burger, which was made by Mark Post of Maastricht University, described it as "close to meat, but not that juicy" and said "it feels like a burger".

Three Israeli entities - Super Meat, Future Meat and Meat the Future - specialize in the production of chicken meat, which is less complex than beef and therefore more likely to go into mass production sooner. All three are connected to Israeli universities that are public bodies, which is why the deal was government-to-government rather than an acquisition.

While many will balk at the idea of eating unnatural meat, the logic is clear. As China Science and Technology Daily stated after the China-Israel deal was announced: "Imagine the future. You have two identical products, one that you have to slaughter the cattle to get. The other is exactly the same, and cheaper - no greenhouse gas emissions, no animal slaughter. Which one would you choose?"

The reality of most meat production is that it is highly industrialized and far removed from the pastoral scenes of our imagination. Lab-grown meat could happily supplant most of the cheap meat production that goes into fast food and other areas, leaving farmers to focus on higher-quality produce such as steaks and cuts for roasts.

Most will not be able to tell the difference between a fast food burger made of real beef and one made of lab beef and, just like today, consumers will be able to pay a premium for meat from well-raised animals.

The reduction in the number of animals, primarily cattle, will result in a fall in the production of methane gas and also protect forests from devastation by farmers seeking new grazing land, as in South America.

Consumers, particularly in Europe and North America, also have a part to play by eating less meat, which will enhance their health as well as the environment.

Such a change in eating habits will need a change in mentality, and that is what Bistro In Vitro is pioneering. As the site explains: "By exploring and pushing the boundaries of our food culture, we want to do away with the idea that cultured meat is an inferior meat substitute."

The author is a senior editor at China Daily UK. Contact the writer at conal@mail.chinadailyuk.com.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/03/2017 page11)