Welfare Science for Future Farming Systems

Emerging farming systems including cultivated meat, precision fermentation, and vertical insect farming require proactive welfare science to ensure new industries start with high standards.

Key Facts

Cultivated meat production currently involves fetal bovine serum, raising its own welfare questions
Precision fermentation uses microorganisms and avoids direct animal use but requires regulatory frameworks
Insect farming is expanding rapidly but welfare standards lag behind production growth
Cell-sentience research is addressing whether cell cultures used in cultivated meat have welfare relevance
The Good Food Institute estimates alternative proteins could replace 50-90% of animal product consumption

Welfare Considerations

The transition to alternative protein systems offers enormous welfare opportunity - reducing or eliminating the suffering of tens of billions of farmed animals annually. But the transition requires proactive engagement with welfare science. Insect farming at scale involves billions of individuals whose sentience is debated but plausible. Cultivated meat using fetal bovine serum causes welfare harm to source animals. Setting high welfare standards for emerging food systems from the outset prevents repeating the mistakes of industrial animal farming.

What You Can Do

Support Good Food Institute and New Harvest research into alternative proteins
Advocate for welfare standards for insect farming based on precautionary sentience principles
Try cultivated meat products from producers committed to eliminating fetal bovine serum
Engage with the policy process around alternative protein regulation in your country