Thursday, February 1, 2018

The Meaning of Meat



For all of you meat lovers, and I count myself among your number, there are some sobering facts we need to face.  No, I don't want to talk about the impact of meat on your health, or the morality of breeding and harvesting animals for food.  There are dozens of excellent websites where you can find information on those topics.  Instead, in this post, I want to discuss something we rarely consider.  Specifically, I would like to review the inefficiency, and enormously negative environmental impact, of meat production.  Here are a few facts for you to chew on:
  • To produce one pound of beef requires approximately 1,500 gallons of water
  • One pound of chicken requires 468 gallons of water
  • One egg requires 53 gallons of water
  • 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce the food and drinks consumed per person, per day, in the average U.S. diet
  • Livestock production is responsible for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions
Some technology companies feel that this is an industry ripe for disruption, and their approach would certainly shake things up.  In fact, their solution to the problem is to remove animals entirely from the meat production process.  For example, a group from Maastrict University is studying the viability of using laboratory-grown muscle cells to replace meat harvested from animals.  An early investor, Sergey Brin, the Co-Founder of Google, said of this approach, "Sometimes a new technology comes along and it has the capability to transform how we view our world." 

Other tech investors seem to agree that this is an exciting new technology.  Whereas most start-up companies find it challenging to raise money, Memphis Meats had so many potential investors, including Bill Gates and Richard Branson, that they actually had to turn some of them away. You can learn more about Memphis Meats here.

Another start-up is Impossible Foods.  This company has created a burger made entirely from plants that, according to the company, tastes, smells and even bleeds like a normal meat-based burger.  However, the burger made by Impossible Foods uses 95% less land, 74% less water and is responsible for 87% less greenhouse gas emissions.  You can read about the Impossible burger here.

So if you love meat, but you're not a big fan of green house gases, you might be craving one of the new meat substitutes.  Although most of these products haven't hit the market yet, the Impossible burger is available at a number of restaurants in the U.S.  Though it hasn't yet come to my city, I hope to try it the next time I travel.  If you try it first, please leave a comment to let me know what you think.  Bon appetit!

10 comments:

  1. Great post, Doug. Honestly, I think that the biggest hurdle to meat produced in the lab is public trust. This potential disruption doesn't comport with the mass movement to organic foods. Now, if a startup can produce an organic burger without slaughtering animals - well, now we're talking!

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    1. Thanks Chuck, the Impossible burger is available in your town. If you have a chance to try one, let me know what you think.

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  2. You need to pen the modern version of "The Jungle"... It's time!

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    1. Thanks Twone, but it would be presumptuous of me to try to "one up" Upton Sinclair!

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  3. Doug, as usual very interesting insights. This time into the simple burger that we all love! It's amazing how much natural resource is required to produce a pound of meat...and the impact on greenhouse negatives. I have tried the veggie burger and falafel. Both good but doesn't measure up to that beef satisfaction provided by establishments like Char 7! When is Impossible Burger coming to CLT?

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    1. Thanks Carl. No word yet on when it's coming to NC, but the Impossible burger is available at The Counter on Strada Place in Naples FL. Check it out and report back to us!

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  4. Great post and quite intriguing given my food preferences. Can’t wait to try the Impossible Burger. Another good veg substitute is the Beyond Meat burger.

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  5. My co-workers have tried the Impossible burger and they love it! They sell it in a few stores here so we'll have to get you one!... one thing of note: the bleeding burger's key ingredient isn't FDA approved... but there's PLENTY of things we consume that aren't. So enjoy (and pray after)!

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    1. Thanks for your comment, I can't wait to try it. The FDA needs to get on the ball!

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