Imagine taking a big, juicy bite of a burger…only, instead of coming from a cow, it came from a test tube! This may very well be our future, due to a projected shortage of meat. In recent years, our population’s intake of meat has increased substantially. With our growing population and with a limited number of farms and companies raising animals for meat, it makes sense that we will soon run out of naturally-sourced meat. In fact, estimates say that within 40 years, demand will be greater than what we can provide.

Finding New Ways to Create Meat

Scientists have been studying how to create meat in a way that makes more efficient use of the animals we have. One of those methods is creating “in-vitro” meat. Muscle cells are taken from a cow and mixed with fat, amino acids, minerals, and other chemicals needed to help it grow. Saffron and red beet juice are added to the meat to give it the appearance of regular meat.

The muscle cells eventually become muscle tissue, which creates small amounts of meat. At present, this method is not cost-efficient—the cost to create enough for even a single burger is well into the thousands of dollars.

The first beef burger made in this manner was taste-tested in London in August of 2013. The texture was similar to that of regular meat, but the flavor is still lacking. This is because regular meat has quite a bit of fat in it, and that’s missing from these burgers. With this first taste test, scientists can buckle down and work on making test-tube meat as delicious and enjoyable as the meat we eat today.

What It Means for Food Security

Imagine what this development can do for food security around the world. Right now, about one billion people around the world are starving. Over the next 40 years, we need to double our food production in order to keep up with demand. Creating meat from animals that are still living could be a game changer for food security.

Instead of being able to make a finite amount of meat from an animal—which can only occur after it’s been slaughtered—we could use muscle cells from living animals to create meat. Once this process is perfected and the cost of creating meat is decreased, we could theoretically solve the problem of world hunger. All the while, we would be able to keep up with increasing demand for meat.

There are barriers to overcome, of course. First, decreasing the cost of production is a priority. This is the only way that in-vitro meat production will be a sustainable solution. Second, mimicking the texture and flavor of meat is important. Third, overcoming public skepticism for this type of meat is paramount. Just as people are skeptical of new diets like that of Garcinia Cambogia, people are skeptical about the unknown.

Scientists and policymakers alike are excited by this development. They are optimistic that within 10-20 years—well before our 40-year “deadline” on catching up with demand—test-tube meat could be a reality in grocery stores and restaurants. It will be interesting to see what scientists do in the next 10-20 years. Who knows? We may be discussing it over a test-tube burger in 2023.