4 Things You Need To Know About Lab Grown Meat

[Narrator] Four things you need to know

about lab-grown meat.

Number one, growing meat in a lab is finally possible

and becoming more practical everyday.

The process, pioneered by researcher, Mark Post

from Maastricht University, starts like this.

Scientists harmlessly extracts stem cells

called myosatellite cells from a small sample

of muscle tissue from the source animal.

In this case, a cow.

The scientist coax them to differentiate into muscles cells

which then naturally form small fibers called myotubes.

When placed around a circular hub made of gel,

the myotubes start bulking up,

growing larger and combining

to form a small piece of muscle tissue,

makes these pieces of muscle tissue

along with cultured fat tissue and you get something

that looks and tastes like meat.

Number two, according to an Oxford University study,

this cultured meat could be produced

with up to 96% fewer greenhouse gas emissions

than regular meat and that's important

because livestock production is a key driver

of climate change.

The meat industry currently contributes

44% of the world's methane

and 53% of the world's nitrous oxide emissions.

In fact, livestock is estimated

to account for more greenhouse gases

than the world's cars, trucks, boats, planes combined.

Number three, current livestock production

is also incredible water intensive

but cultured meat is estimated to require

82% to 96% less water depending on the animal.

That's a lot of savings in the world

where scarcity is already causing water

to be referred to as the new oil.

Number four, while the first cultured burger

grown by Mark Post in 2013

cost $330,000 for just one patty,

he expects his group to be able to produce patties

on a large enough scale to sell them

for less than $10 each by 2020.

As Post told the Washington Post,

Once we can grow the tissue in a reactor

the size of an Olympic swimming pool,

we should be able to achieve that sort of volume.

(soft music)