2021 saw USD 1.4 billion invested in cultured meat businesses and 107 new start-up businesses. 25 countries have at least one company that grows meat, according to the American Good Food Institute.

But cultured meat is still a long way from finding its way into shops and onto our dinner tables.

Why is it taking so long? And is it really possible to grow meat?

“The optimistic forecasts probably also have to do with marketing and the need for investors and capital,” says Rob Burton of the Ruralis, Institute for Rural and Regional Research.

…

The methods are in place, and scientists are making meat in the laboratory. But the companies only manage to produce a few kilos each day, according to Burton.

The challenge now is to get the meat out of the lab and into large-scale production. No one has managed to achieve that yet.

Most of the development takes place in the private business sector, so we don’t have a lot of insight into what’s going on, Burton says.

Results are kept secret rather than being published.

“The research results and reports on how far we’ve actually come are few and far between,” says Sissel Beate Rønning from Nofima. She is heading the new project.

Rønning believes that the public financing of research on lab meat is therefore a positive step.

[Editor’s note: This article has been translated from Norweigan and edited for clarity.]

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