Cultivated Meat and Animal Welfare: The Promise and Progress

Cultivated meat — grown from animal cells without slaughter — promises to dramatically reduce farm animal suffering if it achieves commercial viability at scale.

Key Facts

Cultivated meat (also called cell-cultured meat, lab-grown meat, or clean meat) is produced by taking a small biopsy from a living animal, culturing the cells in a bioreactor, and growing muscle tissue without the animal
The first cultivated beef burger was produced in 2013 at a cost of approximately 250,000 USD — by 2023, costs had fallen dramatically and Singapore, the United States, and Israel had granted regulatory approval for commercial sale
If cultivated meat achieves commercial scale at price parity with conventional meat, modeling suggests it could reduce farmed animal numbers by 90%+ while maintaining consumer protein consumption patterns
Current welfare concerns in cultivated meat production include: the animal biopsy procedure (minimally invasive), the use of fetal bovine serum as a cell culture medium (derived from fetal calf blood), and energy-intensive production processes
Fetal bovine serum (FBS) use is a significant welfare concern — it is harvested by cardiac puncture of live calf fetuses — but companies are actively developing FBS-free growth media as a welfare and commercial priority
Good Food Institute tracks the global cultivated meat sector and advocates for public research funding that could accelerate cost reduction and welfare improvement
Alternative protein technologies including precision fermentation and plant-based meat may achieve welfare goals faster than cultivated meat due to simpler production processes

Welfare Considerations

Cultivated meat represents potentially the most transformative animal welfare technology under development — a genuine possibility for maintaining the food system productivity and cultural food practices that drive demand while eliminating the vast majority of farm animal suffering. The welfare promise is enormous: elimination of billions of animals from factory farming systems if cultivated meat achieves commercial scale. The current welfare concerns — particularly FBS use — are real but being actively addressed by the industry as both welfare and commercial priorities. Supporting cultivated meat development through public research funding, regulatory approval processes, and consumer openness to the product is one of the most impactful systemic interventions available for future animal welfare improvement. The most welfare-realistic near-term scenario involves cultivated meat as a complement to, rather than complete replacement for, plant-based protein alternatives.

What You Can Do

Support Good Food Institute and New Harvest in their work funding public research on cultivated meat and alternative proteins
Advocate for public research funding for cultivated meat as a welfare and environmental technology deserving the same government support as other food security innovations
Engage positively with cultivated meat products when they become commercially available — consumer acceptance is essential for market development
Follow and share cultivated meat news from welfare-positive perspectives to normalize the technology and build public acceptance
Support regulatory processes that evaluate cultivated meat fairly based on safety evidence rather than blocking innovation that could dramatically reduce animal suffering