Innovation in the Food Sector: Development Prospects for Synthetic Meat Production

Currently, the production of meat appears to be unsustainable due to its environmental impact and because it causes natural resource depletion. Furthermore, in the next few years, the situation will worsen due to the increase in the human population and the lifestyle change of some nations, such as China or India. Moreover, according to scientists, conventional meat production would be insufficient to satisfy the growing demand for this food. To solve these problems, an innovative technology has recently been developed that can produce meat in the laboratory. Thus, the first synthetic meat production started in 2016. To date, there are different methodologies that try to overcome some problems linked to the poor quality and high cost of this new food. In light of these premises, the present study aims to present an overview of synthetic meat production techniques, analysing the advantages and disadvantages that meat production can entail. The results showed that synthetic meat could contribute to reducing environmental pollution and natural resource depletion as well as feed the growing world population. However, some technological problems should be resolved, such as its taste not always appreciated by consumers and the huge energy consumption that its production needs.