RetailDetail Congress presents: the first slaughterless burger

The very first synthetic burger, how should we
imagine this?

N.v.d.A.: “Just like any other burger: we have
been creating a lot of muscle fibre, which we will soon combine into a real
burger. We then intend to grill it and taste it. The idea itself is fairly old:
Winston Churchill already proposed the idea for a synthetic burger in the 1930s. And he was right: it is strange to breed and feed an entire animal to eventually only use a
small part of it.

Professor Mark Post performed several
experiments over the past decades, and while they did not lead to the production of meat,
they did examine the principle and the feasibility. When enough financing
was gathered, Maastricht University founded a research team that started
working on truly creating in-vitro meat.”

Why is the current meat consumption a problem?

N.v.d.A: “Today seventy percent of the earth’s
surface is being used for the production of meat, going from meadows where the
animals can graze to the growing of crops to feed those animals.

The greenhouse effect of those animals is also
very high: about twenty percent of worldwide greenhouse emissions comes from
livestock; more than all traffic combined. A cow is also very inefficient:
for every 100 grams of plant protein a cow ingests, only fifteen percent is
turned into usable meat.

The WHO (World Health Organisation) predicts
the demand for meat will rise to 376 million tons by 2030, compared to the 218
million tons in the period 1997-1999. By 2050 the demand will probably have
doubled, mainly due to growth markets such as India and China. The current meat
production will not suffice.”

Should we be going for a vegetarian
alternative then?

N.v.d.A: “Vegetarian food is an option, but we
see it is very difficult to change the eating habits of people. You can not
control what people want to eat, so it is unrealistic to believe that
the world’s population will start eating vegetarian all of a sudden. The
numbers suggest the demand for meat will keep on rising, instead of going down.”

Are there other advantages to in-vitro meat?

N.v.d.A: “Another big advantage to meat grown
in a laboratory is it can be made healthier. We can control the amount of
fat and the portion saturated fat versus unsaturated fat. The amount of
salt can also be controlled and we can even add vitamins and nutrient.”

Will this ‘new meat’ be economically feasible, as consumers are always looking for the lowest price?

N.v.d.A: “We researched this and it appears this would be no problem. I also believe the consumer will readily
embrace the concept. Even today the interest in healthy food and biological meat
is rising. People are growing discontent with how unsustainable the current
system is, with the horse meat scandal as a good example.

Price will of course remain an important issue. At the
moment one burger costs 250,000 euro – this means we still have a lot to do,
but we are sure we can eventually bring the price down to a competitive level.”

What will happen with the current livestock,
and the farmers?

N.v.d.A: “In-vitro meat is meant to be an
answer to the rising demand for meat in the future, because the classic
production will not be able to keep with their current methods. It will
complement – and not compete – with farmers.

It is important to emphasise that the first
burger, which we will be presenting one of these days, only is a proof of
concept. It is becoming a reality, but there is still a lot to do before we can
bring it into the market.”

Want to know more? Nynke van den Akker will be
speaking during the ‘Sustainability’ seminar at the RetailDetail Congress
on Thursday 25 April in Schelle (near Antwerp). The complete program of the seminar (PDF) can be

found here. Participation in the seminar also includes free entry to the RetailDetail Congress; for registration please visit www.retaildetailcongres.be.