Fake Meat Saves the Planet!

December 03, 2019

By - Adam Yook

What is fake meat?

Fake meat is a replacement meat composed of alternatives to meat farmed from animals. There are two types of fake meat: plant-based and cell-based. Plant-based meats are created from harvesting the proteins from plants to form a meat-like substance. Cell-based meats are created from growing a single animal cell in a lab culture to grow meat.

Why is it better for the environment?

Plant-based meat 93% less land and have 90% less fossil fuel emissions compared to equivalent standard beef. However, the biggest environmental benefit is not easily quantifiable. Due to the continual growth of the global population, resources to feed the increase in population are becoming more and more scarce. Land used to produce livestock consumes nearly 30% of the world's ice-free land. As the population grows, that number will only continue to increase if the current diets stay the same.

However, fake meat is not as beneficial to the environment as you might initially believe. The fossil fuel data metric comparison in a skewed measurement at best and just inaccurate at worst. Currently, the only source of comparison data is the companies that commercially produce fake meat for a profit. There have been no independent research conducted to verify these metrics. Additionally, the amount of processing that is required to produce plant-based meat results in the carbon footprint of fake meat matching that of chicken and cell-based meat is just under beef.

Personally, I believe that fake meat is better than the our current options, but I do not think that it is developed enough to qualify as the end solution to replace the impact of livestock on the environment. I think the benefits need to be improved, or societal tendencies need to shift away from the heavy emphasis on meat.

What do you think about fake meat? Do you think society can change their diets to improve the environment? How would you feel eating meat that was grown in a petri dish? Have you had fake meat? Do you think fake meat is close to resembling real meat in texture and taste?

Sources

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fake-meat-better-you-or-environment-n1065231

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/02/beyond-meat-uses-climate-change-to-market-fake-meat-substitutes-scientists-are-cautious.html

https://www.cnet.com/news/is-fake-meat-really-better-for-the-environment/

Comments

Anonymous said…

Personally, I’d feel pretty weird eating meat that was grown in a lab. I’d probably prefer the plant option over the lab option. It’s interesting to see the demand for new types of food increase, and I definitely believe that these options will be vital to reducing the planet’s carbon footprint.

December 4, 2019 at 12:16 PM

Anonymous said…

I haven’t thought much about fake meat to be honest. I don’t eat beef anymore but I don’t really substitute it for fake beef, though I could see how people would do that. I forgot they grew it in labs. I wonder if they have to put that on the package or if that’s not a need to know for costumers, although I could see how it would be. Plant based are kind of good but I wish they were easier to make with less of an economic disadvantage.

December 4, 2019 at 1:09 PM

Anonymous said…

As someone who abhors the idea of both plant-based “meat” and the notion that we should be willing to eat a protein culture grown in a lab, I cannot express enough my concern for the possibility of growth in this industry. I can absolutely concede to the benefits of producing and consuming these forms of food, as I do value the benefits environmentally, particularly that of the decrease in required land needed to produce such food. That said, I personally could not get behind the “meatless meat” trend anytime soon.

December 4, 2019 at 1:09 PM

Anonymous said…

Previous to this post I had no idea about the fact you can harvest plants to taste like meat? Pretty extraordinary, but the fact it doesn’t really help the environment but only exchanges problems for other problems is what people usually take as “solutions”. Maybe for marketing purposes this type of meat is beneficial to a very specific consumer audience, but personally I feel it’s not really worth mass producing this much fake meat, or encouraging the idea to become a trend if the environment will be this negatively impacted.

December 4, 2019 at 7:17 PM

Anonymous said…

I know of fake meat, but I haven’t really thought of it in a long time because I don’t really eat beef. It is an interesting thing though. I can understand the concerns over fake beef in any regard. It‘s different and isn’t really beef, which is a huge turn off for most. My personal feelings on the matter are pretty much indifference overall with the exception of climate change, and thus, the need to create either fake beef or change the way we’re producing beef.

December 5, 2019 at 6:42 AM

Anonymous said…

I think fake meat is awesome! Being a chicken lover, it frustrates me about the bad environmental impacts of beef and chicken. Since the US is a leader in methane emissions from cattle, I’m glad a new alternative is happening. Actually, I’ve tried fake meat before, and it was actually really tasty. It was soy I believe, but tasted really similar ad delicious!! Urvi Vallapareddy

December 5, 2019 at 8:03 AM

Anonymous said…

That's really interesting that you can make cell based and plant based meat! With this alternative to high emitting beef production, I think that fake meats can only grow more developed and efficient. While right now, the fake meat industry isn't the most beneficial or in any means a solution to our problems, it is a step forward in reducing CO2 and methane emissions that come with agriculture.

December 5, 2019 at 8:15 AM

Anonymous said…

A few weeks ago I did research about going vegetarian for another class and the topic of fake meat was brought up as an alternative, more specifically, the plant-based option. A substance called leghemoglobin found in a lot of legumes is one thing that made the Impossible Whopper from Burger King convince consumers that they were eating real meat instead of soy patties and I think it’s really cool that food science has been able to get us this far. Another alternative that I feel people overlook is tofu, which doesn’t only come in the white squishy and mushy variety that some people dislike the texture and taste of.

December 9, 2019 at 5:56 PM

Anonymous said…

I think fake meat will have a great impact in the long run in reducing CO2 emissions. Plant based foods will probably even have a increase in health benefits because less energy and nutrients are lost from the production of plant based meat. I have heard from many people that the taste is the same and that they would switch to it because if the taste and texture is the same and it helps the environment. Plant based and cell based from what I have read is much better in food production because it requires less water and reduces the pollution. Most of the farm land in the US goes to raising unsustainable cattle. If that land goes into producing alternative meats we would be increasing land use and the overall food supply which would benefit all people in the country.

December 10, 2019 at 7:11 AM

Anonymous said…

I could never eat fake cell based meat. I would rather eat a bean patty or just be a normal vegetarian. Though I do believe that transferring to a fake meat will greatly decrease the amount of energy that we release in CO2 admissions. Overall I don’t really think that people would like the idea of not eating real meat, but that’s just my opinion.

December 10, 2019 at 8:29 AM

Anonymous said…

I think the concept of fake meat is strange. But as our environmental crisis continues, I feel like society will lean towards this type of meat. In my english class, we had to read a book that talks about the benefits of lab grown meat; the purpose of the meat was to reduce the carbon emissions produced by animals. I think that this is a good concept, but, like every other new idea, it will take time for people to be on board with it. This is a step in the direction towards environmental sustainability, and we are going to have to make changes if we want our planet to continue.

December 10, 2019 at 4:07 PM

Anonymous said…

I personally think the idea of fake meat is very interesting but when it comes to eating the meat I would prefer eating plant-based meat more than lab-grown meat. I think the idea of having plant-based meats is a cool idea and Plant-based and cell-based are much better in food production because it requires less water and reduces pollution.

December 10, 2019 at 4:57 PM

Aerah Kim said…

The idea of fake meat is great but would everyone be ok eating meat from a lab? Personally, me knowing its cell-based or plant-based I would lose my appetite. I mean think of food chains like Mcdonalds or In n Out, customers won't be so happy about "fake meat" since hamburgers are eaten because of the meat.

December 10, 2019 at 7:02 PM

Anonymous said…

I agree with you that fake meat is not advanced enough to be a complete substitute for beef, but you did say that at worse, it’s still better than eating beef, so that means fake beef is still a better choice than real beef. I personally don’t think I will switch to artificial meat until it gets better, simply because I don’t think it would make too much of a difference in the environment whether or not I did.

December 11, 2019 at 5:50 AM

Anonymous said…

I don’t think you’ll ever catch me eating a meat that was made in a lab. That’s a very innovative idea thought! Also for some reason this reminded me of burger kings impossible whopper. It’s a burger that isnt with real meat but it taste like meat. very intriguing to say the least. It’s very cool how we are able to come up with so many alternatives to save the environment. I think Burger King has shown society we can change without forcing it. Another expample in how great humans are, we are able to improvise, adapt and overcome.

December 11, 2019 at 8:38 AM

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