Corby Kummer: Is Lab-grown Meat Vegetarian-Friendly?

Food policy writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the ethical considerations behind lab-grown meat for people who consider themselves vegetarians — whether for animal welfare or environmental reasons — off of an article in Mother Jones: “My Vegetarian Dilemma: Tasting Lab-Grown Meat From Live Animals”

“This cultured meat is taken from a live animal … and then grown out in a medium,” said Kummer. “Here’s a dirty little secret, almost invariably the medium is fetal bovine serum, FBS, which is taken from dead cows and calves. They never talk about the growing medium.”

Corby Kummer is executive director of the Food and Society policy program at the Aspen Institute, a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy