Consultants say that 60% will be grown in a container or in plant products that will have the taste of meat.
*Conventional meat is meat obtained from animals raised with hormones, substances, antibiotics, etc.
*Culturized meat is meat grown in vitro with animal cells avoiding killing them.
Most of the meat people will eat in 2040 will not come from slaughtered animals, with one report predicting that 60% of meat will either be grown in a container or replaced with plant-based products that look and taste like meat. .
Report from global consultancy "AT Kearney", based on expert interviews, highlights the severe environmental impacts of conventional meat production and the concerns people have for the welfare of animals under industrial agriculture.
"The large-scale livestock industry is seen by many as an unnecessary evil," the report said. "With the advantages of replacing vegan meat and cultured meat versus conventionally produced meat, it's only a matter of time before we cover a significant portion of the market."
The conventional meat industry raises billions of animals and makes over $1 trillion in profits annually. However, major environmental impacts have become clear in recent scientific studies, from emissions leading to the climate crisis, to wildlife habitats destroyed for agricultural land and pollution of rivers and oceans.
Companies such as "Beyond Meat", "Impossible Meat" and "Just Foods" that use plant ingredients to created replaceable burger, scrambled eggs and other products are growing rapidly. AT Kearney estimates that $1 billion has been invested in such vegan products, including the dominant companies the conventional meat market . Beyond Meat raised $240 million when the company went public in May, and its stock has doubled since then.
Other companies are working on growing cultured meat cells to produce real meat without the need to raise and kill animals. No such product has yet reached consumers, but AT Kearney predicts that cultured meat will dominate in the long term because it reproduces the taste and feel of conventional meat much more closely than plant-based alternatives.
"The shift towards flexible, vegetarian and vegan lifestyles is undeniable, with many consumers reducing their meat consumption as a result of increased awareness of the environment and animal welfare," said Carsten Gerhardt, partner at AT Kearney. "For avid meat eaters, the projected increase in cultured meat products means they'll still be able to enjoy the same diet they've always had, but without the same cost attached to the environment and animals."
The report estimates that 35% of all meats will be cultured in 2040 and 25% of those will be vegan substitutes. It emphasizes the very high efficiency of alternatives compared to conventional meat.
Almost half of the world's population is fed by living animals, but only 15% of plant calories end up being eaten by humans as meat. By contrast, the report says, cultured meat and vegan meat substitutes contain about three-quarters of their calorie intake.
Potential consumer concerns about cultured meat will not be a deterrent, the report says, citing surveys in the US, China and India: “Culturized meat will win in the long run. However, new vegan meat substitutes will be essential in the transition phase."
*Citizens Channel /EN/
