By Jon Hochschartner
While private funding for cultivated meat is surging, public investment is tepid. This needs to change. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. It’s better for the environment, public health, and animal welfare.
Recently, the Israeli cellular-agriculture firm Future Meat raised $347 million in a Series B funding round, with the help of ADM Ventures and Tyson Foods. The company claims it can make cultivated chicken breast for $7.70 a pound, a significant reduction from $18 a pound six months ago.
Unfortunately, private funding means privately-owned research. Such secrecy holds back development of the field as a whole. We need public funding for open-access research to help bring cultivated meat to market as quickly as possible, at a competitive price with slaughtered meat.
More legislators should follow the lead of U.S. Representatives Ro Khanna, Susan Wild, Julia Brownley, Deborah K. Ross, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Veronica Escobar, Haley M. Stevens, and Nydia M. Velázquez, who called for increased federal funding for alternative-protein development.
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