Cultivated meat technology offers the potential to produce animal protein without slaughter, but the development process still uses animal-derived materials and raises questions about welfare during transition.
Cultivated meat represents one of the most promising long-term solutions to farm animal welfare, but the current development phase involves genuine welfare costs that welfare advocates should acknowledge and address. Fetal bovine serum remains the industry standard growth medium, and its collection causes significant suffering. The transition to animal-free media is accelerating and several companies have achieved it, but FBS-dependent production at scale still involves animal harm. Consumer support for companies actively developing FBS-free production methods, and transparency about current practices, are both important for the welfare integrity of the cultivated meat movement.