Lab-grown meat: How long before it's on a menu near you?

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The first lab-grown beef burger was cooked and eaten in London in 2013. Since then more than 15 types of meat have been re-created by food scientists - including lamb, duck, lobster and even kangaroo. Last year, Singapore became the first country in the world to approve the sale of a cultured chicken nugget - so how far away are we in the UK from seeing cultured meat on the menu?

The companies producing lab-grown meat say it is the answer to many of the world's problems; deforestation, factory farming, antibiotic resistance and carbon emissions. Sceptics say it is too expensive, highly-processed and any 'green' credentials have yet to be proven.

In this programme, Sheila Dillon speaks to some of those at the forefront of developments, and asks if lab-grown meat is the fix the meat eating world has been asking for?

Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Transcript

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0:56.7	When you think about the future of your food, do you imagine that meat cultivated in a lab will be on the menu.
1:04.0	I'm just going to dive in.
1:06.0	You should go in with your hands, man.
1:08.0	Go with my hands, okay.
1:09.0	Wow, that is, I'm going to say it,
1:11.0	because everyone's expecting me to say it. It tastes just like chicken.
1:14.3	They typically say this tastes just like chicken and they're often surprised when they say that
1:21.5	but they shouldn't be because it tastes like chicken because it literally is
1:26.0	chicken.
	...

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