BILL GATES AND THE NEW FRONTIER
Bill Gates is also behind this technology stating he believes we will not have the ability to produce enough meat for the nearly 10 billion people expected on this planet by 2050 using traditional meat production. He feels raising animals takes a lot of land and water and has a devastating impact on the environment like increased deforestation, which would increase greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly 80 percent in the next 30 years. For him, clean meat allows for more options.
In the U.S. alone, 26 billion pounds of beef is consumed annually. All that livestock is a part of a huge industrialized livestock system that is overwhelming the planet. For example, one cow can consume 11,000 gallons of water a year.
Clean meat can potentially grow large amounts of meat with a handful of cells. These cells, under the right conditions, can divide like they do in the body. “Theoretically from one little piece of meat you can create an unlimited amount,” says Mike Selden, CEO of Finless Foods in an interview with Wired.
There is still the issue of price and scale for clean meat to make it to market. In 2013 a burger made from clean meat cost $330,000! The price to produce a burger with this technology has decreased, but still not enough to bring it to market because of the serums and other factors that go into creating lab-grown meat.