Cultured meat — grown from animal cells without slaughter — promises to dramatically reduce farm animal suffering. The first commercial products are now available, but scale and cost remain challenges.
Cultured meat's welfare promise is substantial: producing meat without slaughtering billions of animals annually would be one of the largest welfare improvements in human history. However, current production methods often use fetal bovine serum (FBS), derived from slaughtered pregnant cows, introducing a welfare concern in the input stream. Research into serum-free growth media is active and necessary. If cultured meat scales without animal-derived inputs, its welfare case becomes overwhelming. Supporting the technology's development, including welfare-positive input research, is a high-impact intervention.