Are cultured meat companies cruelty-free?

Cultured meat companies, which bill themselves as sustainable and cruelty-free, hope their products will offer a way for meat lovers to enjoy a juicy burger or fried chicken with a clean conscience. “I put myself in that category,” says Amy Chen, COO of UPSIDE Foods. “We call ourselves ‘conflicted carnivores.’”

What is 'cultured meat'?

‘Cultured meat’ is a meat-like product, grown in a lab from cells extracted from animals without requiring them to be slaughtered. This new means of producing ‘meat’ is exciting the food sector, given its potential to facilitate meat eating, without the environmental and ethical issues that surround conventional meat industries.

Which companies are leading the cultured meat Revolution?

A new report from IDTechEx identifies five companies at the forefront of this cultured meat revolution. The company that kicked off the trend was Mosa Meat, founded in 2013 by Dr Mark Post of Maastricht University. In August 2013, Dr Post cooked and tasted the world’s first cell-cultured hamburger in front of a crowd of journalists in London, UK.