Do you remember the movie Back to the Future Part II? Grandma brings over a 3 inch Pizza Hut pizza, pops it into a Black & Decker hydrator, and poof, it grows into a full-size, extra-large pizza. Well, 2015 has come and gone, and while many of the movie’s technological predictions have come to pass, the Black & Decker hydrator and hoverboards that hover weren’t among them. But something new is in the works that would be worthy of any futuristic scenario. Imagine popping a piece of animal tissue into your SuperMeat machine and growing a chicken breast. Restaurants will do it. Grocery stores will do it. And you will be able to do it at home, too! It won’t be as fast as Grandma’s pizza, of course, but you won’t have to kill an animal to chow down on chicken tenders.
According to SuperMeat, a new Israeli start-up company, the benefits are profound. First of all, it will stop the slaughter and inhumane treatment of animals. If you don’t know what is going on in today’s industrialized meat production, we are raising sick animals in horrific inhumane and overcrowded conditions, feeding them GMO foods and antibiotics, and denying them any quality of life before butchering them, again, in inhumane ways.
Growing meat from tissue samples will have a tremendous environmental impact if it replaces current conventional practices. Compared to today’s meat industry, SuperMeat says this new technology will require:
- 99% less land
- 96% fewer greenhouse gases
- 96% less water
Putting an end to conventional practices will greatly protect our water sources as well. Runoff waste from factory farming pollutes rivers, streams, and groundwater.
It will be so much cheaper to grow tissue than it is to raise and slaughter an animal, the lower costs alone will help solve world hunger. In addition, land currently used to grow crops to feed livestock can be used to feed people. It is often said that eliminating meat consumption would easily allow us to feed the world.
SuperMeat also claims their product will be healthier than conventional meat because we will have control over its production.
SuperMeat is in its initial start-up phase. They are currently seeking investors. CEO and Co-Founder, Koby Barak expects their meat growing device will reach the marketplace within five years.