Written February 2010
How Laboratory Technologies Will Change the Economy and Culture of Meat as We Know It
My friends and family are often surprised when I caution them about being too judgmental against 'test tube beef' - real, edible meat grown from livestock stem cells in a laboratory setting. I'm about to leave for a graduate program in sustainable food systems, and with a background that includes producing grass-fed beef, organic raw milk, and sheep's milk gorgonzola - most reasonable people would assume that I would shy away from something as untested and unnatural as In Vitro Meats (IVM). These reasonable people would be right, and when the time comes, I will keep my distance from what some have termed 'franken-steaks'. Now, that doesn't mean I won't try it, and I am, in fact, quite excited by the inevitable entry of cow-less beef to the market place in the next 5-10 years. But my excitement is, perhaps, for different reasons than those on the front-lines of IVM research and promotion.
The endlessly inept animal rights group, PETA, is offering a $1 million dollar reward to the scientists who are first to develop a marketable IVM product. Their logic being that when consumers are faced with a cheaper, humane alternative to factory-farmed meats, they'll choose the former over the latter. PETA envisions this technology as a crippling blow to the industrial meat complex as well as a revolution in consumer choice, and for once I agree with them...uh...kind of.
Jon Stewart recently ran a hilarious bit on The Daily Show slamming the "soggy pork" that marks the latest in IVM breakthroughs. "It's my two favorite things for dinner: pork and science" quips Stewart - reflecting what appears to be a widely shared sentiment dichotomizing culinary art and cutting edge technology.
So is there even the demand for a relatively untested futuristic mush-meat just because a cow wasn't hurt in order to make it? If the Quorn brand line of ready-meals is any example, then yes - the demand is strong and growing. Quorn brand foods are 'fake' beef and poultry products unlike anything else currently on the shelves. Produced through a continuous fermentation of the fungus fusarium venenatum, these "myco-proteins" represent the most advanced marketable technology to-date in recreating the flavor, textural, and nutritional profiles of real meat. Marlow Foods, the international producer of Quorn products has enjoyed an average 50% growth rate each year since it's 1994 introduction. This impressive rise is inspite of widespread internet and media coverage calling the new food both dangerous and gross - the same claims made against the infant IVM food technology.
While Marlow Foods tries to brand it's Quorn products as "mushroom" in origin, the truth, as it's critics like to point out, is that myco-proteins are derived from a mold. Making matters worse, again, according to critics, f. venenatum is a mold with no human history of consumption. Most people don't like the idea of eating an experimental mold any more than the idea of eating a pile of test tube meat cells. So who is eating Quorn foods, and can this tell us anything about the future for IVM?
Students of technological change would call the current generation of Quorn consumers "innovators" and "early adopters". The difference between these two groups being the level of percieved risk they are willing to accept, and their level of social integration and respectability within the broader community. For Quorn, the innovators are those with their finger on the pulse of the food world, and a passion for healthy living, sustainability, and animal welfare. The early adopters could be the friend of an innovator, or just folks who are educated enough in the field of mycology to understand that the risks associated with myco-proteins are likely no more serious than the potential allergenicity inherent in any food. For a product as unique as Quorn's myco-protein meals, this standard model of new product acceptance is a fine fit - and if all goes well for Marlow Foods, Quorn will be a household name in no time. And while IVM will undoubtedly find it's innovators and early adopters among PETA members, eco-foodies, and the technologically trustful - the history of the meat market leads me to suspect a new category will be needed get a complete picture of the future IVM consumers. This is a group I call the "disenfranchised", and you might be surprised to learn who's included. Economically supplying the requisite protein needs for prisoners, school children, and the economically disadvantaged has been a challenge as old as the institutions and corporations created to serve these populations. From schools serving recalled beef for years, to corner stores that are the sole food source offering nitrate-laden preserved meats to the inner city poor; the meat industry has a rich history of shuttling it's less acceptable product range to those who can't, or won't, refuse it. These groups will most certainly see IVM on their plates very soon after it's release, but prisons, schools, and the poor are only one piece of the disenfranchised customer base upon which this techno-food will need to rely. Any time a "new" food attempts to enter the US marketplace it must go before the FDA to prove it's safety. The goal of most any producer is to get their product apporoved for GRAS Status, or Generally Recognized As Safe. Achieving GRAS status means that the new food is allowed to enter the market with out extraneous labels or warnings. There is no question in my mind that IVM producers will seek, and be awarded GRAS for their IVM products. Just as the corporate giants behind genetically engineered crops argued that their foods, though altered at the very core of their genetic make-up, are "substantially equivalent" to traditional foods; so to will IVM be given a free pass to be marketed as simply "meat". That means the last leg of the disenfranchised consumer group acting as the economic crutch for IVM is...YOU. Every time you grab a hot dog from the Quickie-Mart, every time you order a hamburger from your family restaraunt, every time you grill up sausages and steaks from the supermarket - you might be consuming IVM against your will. Now, inevitably, cattlemen and food retailers will begin to offer "non-IVM" labeled products, just as you can purchase "non-GMO" labeled foods today. Just as likely, the IVM marketers will offer premier branded products pitched as "Humane Eco-Meats" for those innovators and early adopters. These two higher-cost labels- the "non-IVM" and the "premier IVM" lines will mask the true identity of the lowest-cost unlabeled "meat". The thoughtful meat consumer of the future need not be tricked, but that will require a level of diligence to which few Americans are accustomed. So why, as I stated, am I excited at all for IVM to come to market? Am I a sadist of the food world wishing confusion and fake meats on my fellow humans? No, I'm a teacher and farmer, and as such, I get excited when people have new conversations about the role of animal proteins in their lives. Most people, including myself, are already purchasing and consuming lowest-cost meat products coming from production methods that, if informed or honestly reflected upon, would generate a level of discomfort. IVM will push this level of discomfort into a new realm of social consciousness, creating vast new markets for traditional, grass-fed, and organic meats. The conversations resulting from this test-tube technology will also empower consumers to have far greater understandings of the very real impacts that production methods have on the final quality of their meat products. I won't be surprised if, in 30 years, I am a major advocate for IVM. It has the very real potential to alleviate the ecological, animal welfare, and nutritional issues plaguing the industrial meat complex. In addition, it may very well prove to be safe, delicious, and nutritious. For now, I think it's a disgusting technological monster fit only for laboratory experiments and perhaps NASA astronauts (as originally intended). For now, I'll stick with organic mushrooms, and grass-fed beef as my primary proteins - tradition has never tasted so good!
Sources:
|
No comments:
Post a Comment