The industry of lab grown meat depends on the blood of a cow fetus. It makes cells grow really, really fast and startups are trying to get away from relying on it because it means killing an animal. Another major challenge is preventing bacterial contamination. Producing 10% of the global meat supply chain would cost $2 trillion in factory costs. There are so many challenges ahead to scaling this up and competing with conventional meat on cost.
Happy New Year! Maybe you’re interested in trying new things? Sean and his mom are. In today’s episode, they drive to Alameda, California to try “hybrid meat” — a mixture of lab-grown meat and veggie meat substitute that could deliver a more sustainable (but still meaty) future.
This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Siona Peterous and Hady Mawajdeh, engineered by Efim Shapiro, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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