DAVIS, Calif. — Researchers on the UC Davis campus are developing the next generation of meat alternatives.
"To actually solve how you create this on a large scale, and have people really want to consume it," said Professor David Block, director of the Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein.
Well-known brands such as Beyond Meat and Impossible can be found at grocery stores nation wide with their plant-based meat alternatives. Today, researchers are experimenting with fungal-based foods and cultivated meat derived from animal cells grown in large fermenters.
Why? Block says the world's meat consumption is expected to increase 50% to 100% over the next 25 years. This is in part due to fast food giants, such as Burger King and KFC, as well as national retail chains, such as Walmart. He also says since meat is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, it contributes to climate change.
"If we don't do anything, there's not going to be enough meat to deliver protein to world population, and so we need to really examine other methods for producing meat to fill that demand," Block said.
Creating something that tastes like the real thing and is just as nutritious will be a generational challenge. Some of the nation's brightest food scientists at UC Davis will have to cook up something good for this idea to work.
"If they don't taste good, and they're not healthy, and they're not the right price, people are not going to consume them," Block said.
Aside from studying public and economical factors relating to alternative meats, UC Davis will use the center to research ways to "grow" meat substitutes using both cells and synthetic methods. According to the iCAMP Innovation Day launch event agenda, there is potential for using adult stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, and microfluidic-based 3D printing to cultivate meat in the future.
