Lab meat? Synthetic meat? Cultivated meat? 11 things you need to know.

What is cultivated meat?

Often (inaccurately) called synthetic meat, lab meat or lab grown meat, cultivated meat aims to deliver chicken, pork, beef and seafood we eat today, made from real animal cells grown in a fermentor (like those used for brewing beer) rather than through animal agriculture.

How is cultivated meat made?

Experts in the field call it cultivated meat rather than lab meat because at scale, production takes place in facilities that are a lot like breweries, not laboratories. Synthetic meat is also misleading as cultivated meat is made from real animal cells – a very important distinction for allergy sufferers. 

The process of making cultivated meat is analogous to growing plants from cuttings in a greenhouse by providing the warmth, fertile soil, water and nutrients the cutting needs to grow. It can be broken down into four main stages: 

1. A small (painless) sample is taken from an animal and used to make a ‘cell-line’ starter. This starter is made from cells that are adapted for growing and building muscle. 
2. The starter is added to a warm fermentor with water and added nutrients (known as cell culture medium). A scaffold made from plant-based ingredients may also be used to give the cells a structure to grow on, and improve the flow of nutrients. 
3. Over time, conditions are changed in the fermentor to allow ‘differentiation’ to occur, where the cells specialise, forming the various parts of meat such as muscle or fat.
4. Once this is complete, the water is removed and the cultivated meat is ready to use as an ingredient. Some whole-cut products made using scaffolds can be cooked and eaten right away.

What is the environmental impact of cultivated meat? I’ve seen headlines saying ‘lab meat is worse for the environment’ is this true?

Most research to date suggests that the environmental impacts of cultivated meat are likely to be significantly lower than those of conventional meat. It is important to note that, because the sector is still in its infancy, there remains a lot of research to be done on the exact environmental impacts of cultivating meat at a commercial scale, but peer-reviewed research – the first to be based on data from the production process of actual cultivated meat companies – has found that cultivating meat from cells could cut the climate impact by up to 92%, reduce air pollution by up to 94%, and use up to 90% less land compared with farming animals.

This is a topic where misinformation and misreporting has been common, often referencing the preprint of an unpublished study based on incorrect assumptions about how cultivated meat is made, like using predictions for resource-intensive medical-grade production methods, rather than the food-grade approach that will be used in reality. 

Because the environmental impact of cultivated meat mainly comes from energy usage, the growing proportion of Europe’s energy coming from renewable sources will likely further reduce its environmental footprint over time. In this way, cultivating meat instead of farming animals can be thought of as the agricultural equivalent of replacing fossil fuel-powered cars with electric vehicles. Even in the unlikely scenario that today’s energy mix was used to power these facilities, the research suggests cultivated meat would likely still cause less emissions than conventional beef.  

Farming animals, however, is a significant driver of a huge range of environmental issues, from the release of ultra-potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide, to deforestation, to marine and air pollution from the disposal of animal waste. Addressing all of these environmental impacts along the conventional meat supply chain is a lot more complex than switching to renewable energy.

Is cultivated meat safe to eat?

Before it is approved for sale in Europe, cultivated meat will have to pass through Europe’s world-leading novel food regulatory approval process, which will thoroughly assess its safety profile and ensure it is safe for Europeans to eat. Authorities in Singapore and the United States have already conducted their own regulatory reviews and approved cultivated meat for sale. 

A 2023 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) exploring the food safety considerations of cultivated meat found a consensus among experts that food safety considerations for cultivated meat “are already well known and existing equally as well in conventionally produced food”.  It also found that allergies should be one of the primary areas of focus – which demonstrates the importance of accurate labelling of cultivated meat, avoiding misleading terms such as synthetic meat, for ensuring consumers with allergies understand that cultivated products contain real animal cells. 

The report also reviewed and dismissed some more outlandish speculations and misinformation circulating about cultivated meat. For example, they found no evidence that immortalised cell lines used in the cultivated meat manufacturing process could form cancer tumours, and could find no credible pathway where this would be possible.

Reinforcing these conclusions, cultivated meat has already passed regulatory approval processes in Singapore and the United States, based on comprehensive safety and nutritional data. 

Beyond nutritional composition, cultivated meat also comes with a host of other public health benefits: 

• Cultivated meat does not depend on antibiotics in its production. Antibiotics are a foundational piece of modern medicine, and overuse is beginning to make common illnesses untreatable and routine operations life-threatening, causing approximately 133,000 deaths per year in Europe. 50% of all antibiotic use in Europe is in animals, contributing to the growth and spread of antibiotic resistance. 
• Reducing pandemic risk. Using animals for food is a key driver of pandemics, both from exposure to diseases circulating among farmed animals and increased exposure to wild animals resulting from deforestation. Cultivated meat is made without the need for animal agriculture, and requires significantly less land to produce, minimising both of these core drivers.

Combating climate change. Climate change represents one of the biggest threats to public health in the modern era. Conventional animal agriculture represents 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is the largest single source of methane emissions.

What is in the growth medium used for cultivated meat?

Cells need water, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals and grow – so they are fed a solution that provides all of these nutrients, usually sourced from plants. This can be made from a multitude of sources – even agricultural products that would otherwise go to waste. 

Some initial methods of cultivating meat used byproducts from slaughter in the production of conventional meat such as foetal bovine serum (FBS). However, this is becoming increasingly uncommon and most cultivated meat startups in Europe use entirely plant-based media. Aside from animal welfare concerns, FBS is expensive and batches are inconsistent, so is not suitable for use in commercial-scale production of cultivated meat.

For more on this topic, check out our deep-dive on the science of cell culture media.

Who is behind cultivated meat?

Cultivated meat can be produced by companies of all shapes and sizes, tailored to the needs and tastes of different cultures. As of the end of 2023, there were over 170 cultivated meat companies worldwide – compared with just five in 2015. While it is true there are some large companies working to produce cultivated meat, it is largely a startup-driven industry. Just like beer can be produced by microbreweries and international brands, meat could be cultivated at a range of scales. 

To enable a diverse ecosystem of companies where independent producers can thrive, we need governments to fund open-access research that will democratise the possibilities of protein diversification – rather than leaving innovation to private companies.

Is there a threat to farmers from cultivated meat?

Europe’s farmers are facing a number of pressing problems, but research by the UK’s Royal Agricultural University (RAU) suggests they don’t think cultivated meat will be one of them anytime soon. Increasingly erratic weather, price pressures driven by growing competition from imports and the intensification of the meat sector are all far more of a threat to the livelihoods of family farms in Europe than cultivated meat. 

Nevertheless, it is very important for cultivated meat researchers, startups and policymakers to work with farmers to help them seize the opportunities that cultivated meat could offer. While the RAU’s research found that many farmers were understandably cautious about this emerging sector, they were also interested in potential collaboration, through both sourcing starter cells and producing the required inputs for cell culture medium. More research like this on how the two sectors can work together will be of growing importance as cultivated meat develops.

Is cultivated meat available in Europe? When is approval expected?

Cultivated meat has not yet been approved for sale in any European country, although it has passed regulatory approval in other countries, including Singapore and the United States. In July 2024, French startup Gourmey submitted the first-ever application to sell cultivated meat (in the form of foie gras) in the EU. Submissions have also been made in other non-EU European countries like Switzerland and the UK. 

Regulators are now undertaking thorough and evidence-based assessments of the safety and nutritional value of cultivated meat, and the approval processes are expected to take at least 18 months.

This means it is likely to be early 2025 at the earliest before cultivated meat may become available in Switzerland and the UK, and 2026 before it arrives in the EU.

The fact that it has passed rigorous approval processes in other countries suggests it can play a role in a safe and sustainable future for Europe’s food system. However, cultivated meat remains at an early stage in its development, and still requires significant investment from governments into research and infrastructure to support product development and scale-up before it can become widely available.

Why did Italy ban cultivated meat?

At the end of 2023, the Italian Parliament passed a law banning the production and marketing of cultivated meat (described by officials as ‘synthetic meat’), even before the first regulatory application to the EU had been made. The draconian law introduces fines between €10,000 and €60,000 for each violation, and scientists in Italy working on cultivated meat have warned that the law could lead to a brain-drain of experts in the field, with many leaving Italy behind as this emerging sector picks up speed in other more supportive European countries. Similar bans have also been adopted by certain US states such as Florida and Alabama – though the Florida ban is now subject to a legal challenge. 

The passage of the controversial Italian ban was fueled by misinformation, as hearings in the Parliament appeared to intentionally exclude cultivated meat companies and researchers while allowing false claims from opponents of this sustainable food to go unchallenged. 

Representative surveys of consumers across 15 European nations found the majority of respondents in almost all countries (including Italy) agreed that if food regulators find cultivated meat to be safe and nutritious, people should have the right to choose for themselves whether they want to eat it.

Is large-scale production of cultivated meat realistic?

There is no doubt that producing cultivated meat at scale represents a big technical challenge, and research is underway to identify and try to mitigate the barriers that must be overcome to make cultivated meat delicious, affordable and accessible. It is going to take serious investment, innovation and infrastructure to get there – but recent developments have led to growing confidence in the potential of cultivated meat from leading researchers in the field. 

As we’ve seen with smartphones, solar panels and genome sequencing, many impactful technologies that now shape our lives were unimaginable before key scientific breakthroughs made them possible. Cultivated meat companies and scientists have already successfully challenged many historical assumptions about cultivating animal cells, and the boundless creativity of researchers in this field clearly still has a lot more to give.

Do people want to eat cultivated meat?

Recent representative YouGov surveys of consumers in 15 countries suggest between 35% and 63% of Europeans are already interested in trying cultivated meat – even at this early stage, when only a small proportion of people know a lot about it. This included 63% of Portuguese respondents, 59% of Dutch respondents, 59% of Czech respondents, 58% of Spanish respondents, 56% of Polish respondents, 55% of Danish respondents, 55% of Belgian respondents, 55% of Swedish respondents, 48% of Italian respondents and 45% of Greek respondents.

People don’t eat meat from intensively farmed animals because of how it is produced – they eat it in spite of how it is produced. Earlier research suggests a majority of consumers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain want to see alternatives to conventional intensive animal agriculture developed.

Cultivated meat is not yet available in Europe, so there is a long way to go before all those who are interested can try it, but when it does become available, consumers should be free to choose for themselves whether they want to eat it or not, rather than having governments choose for them.

Learn more

If you are interested in learning more about the cultivated meat sector, or the science underpinning this game-changing food, check out our cultivated meat page, or read the latest news about this game-changing food on our blog below: