08 December 2021 Wednesday
Artificial Meat Production
Imagine having a picnic on a sunny spring day, lying on artificial grass, or buying an artificial flower as a gift from your lover on Valentine's Day. When you considered these examples, perhaps the repulsive smell of artificial materials came to your nose. When the natural product is available, the artificial is never demanded, nor sought after. Or rather, it is not wanted. Yes, it was not. But now there is a situation that will turn this situation against the artificial in its favor: the production of artificial meat.
The world population, which has increased at a rate not seen in the history of the world in the last century, requires the need for more protein sources that develop in parallel with this situation. In addition, the increasing number of environmentally conscious consumers have turned their attention to alternative sources of protein. One of the most frequently mentioned in recent years from alternative sources of protein is artificial meat. Since it is grown in a laboratory using animal cells, it is possible to see the use of 'cellular agriculture' and 'cultured meat' from time to time.
High-tech laboratories are used in artificial meat production. Artificial meat is produced with a system based on the reproduction of stem cells or tissues taken from animals by feeding them with animal or vegetable solutions in bioreactors in a laboratory environment. This process takes longer and yields are lower than traditional meat production. When the necessary laboratory environment, the need for experts in the field, and low productivity factors are combined and compared to traditional meat, a very expensive product emerges.
Although artificial meat production seems like a recent idea, it was first envisioned by writer and politician Frederick Edwin Smith. By 1912, Alexis Carrel took the first and important step towards artificial meat production by growing a piece of living chick heart muscle in a petri dish. By 2013, the first artificial meat-based burger was produced by Dr. Mark Post and in 2015 the price of the artificial meat-based burger was reduced to $80/kg. With artificial meat production replacing traditional meat production, it is foreseen that the negative effects of greenhouse gases caused by traditional meat production, forest and land destruction, and overuse of agricultural land, etc. will be eliminated.
Currently, around 80 companies in the world are working on artificial meat production in a laboratory environment. In Turkey, Ankara University Stem Cell Institute Vice President Prof. Dr. Can Akçalı and his team carry out studies for meat production from stem cells in the laboratory they established in Ankara University Technopolis.
What do you think about that? In time, will the artificial attract more attention and become more sought after than the natural thing it is trying to imitate?
Research Assistant Emre Ergen
The Deparment of Public Relations and Publicity
