To Vegan, or To Not Vegan?
The Vegan Movement is growing with each year; and it is spreading across the globe. In just the last year the dairy industry has seen multiple Dairy Farms close as milk production moves from animal sources to plant based milks and vegan cheeses. Vegan meats are also on the rise here in the Untied States; especially with the growth of the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. Even major grocery store chains are supplying vegan meats of all kinds…beef, pork, chicken, and even fish. And the U. S. is not alone.
In late 2017 China signed a $300 million contract with three Israeli ‘clean meat producers’, SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future. Indeed as we see large countries like China and the United States moving toward the Vegan Movement, many are hailing this is a clear sign that the days are finally numbered for factory-farmed animal products. Other countries have had Vegan options for years and the growth is apparently expanding across the globe.
Bigger, faster, cheaper has been the mantra of the last half century, but we have seen that while factory farming is indeed bigger and faster, it isn’t better. From the gross mistreatment of animals and misuse of natural resources, to our predilection toward a diet laden with processed meat, sugar, and fat, it’s not a stretch to say we’re lucky to have made it this far. Obesity rates continue to climb, topping 39 percent in the U.S., as do rates of Type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke, heart disease, and scores of other life-limiting illnesses. We’re erasing ourselves from history one Happy Meal at a time.
PETA, in rather gregarious stunt, in 2008, offered up $1 million to the first scientist who could create and bring to market in vitro chicken — poultry meat created from a few chicken cells, rather than from a whole bird. But PETA’s proposition wasn’t a mere media stunt. If anything, it was foreshadowing the massive shift happening in our food system — a not-too-distant future where vegans are running the global meat supply.
Scientists tried. Teams at the University of Missouri and the Netherlands’ Maastricht University worked diligently, but the cost of bringing lab-grown meat, “clean meat” as its come to be known, was prohibitive. PETA, willing to go to any lengths to bring a viable alternative to the massive livestock industry, extended its initial 2012 deadline to March 2014.
Still, no one was able to claim the prize. Research labs and for-profit businesses were tempted by the million-dollar PETA bounty; but they also saw beyond that — the ability to “grow” lab meat without the inherent problem of having an animal attached to it would revolutionize our food system, laying the groundwork for one of the most profound shifts humanity has ever seen. And a lucrative one at that. If successful, companies producing this new form of ‘meat’ can become as profitable as the companies leading the near-trillion dollar global meat industry , we may see the shift to continue.
Last year, China signed a $300 million deal with SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future — three Israeli clean meat producers — in what many are hailing as a clear sign that the days are finally numbered for factory-farmed animal products. Many countries are adding plant based and Vegan options as the concepts of health, global warming, and animal rights are gaining traction.
Will this trend last? Will our present day knowledge of great nutrition, exercise, etc. continue on an upward scale ….or is this a fad that will soon fade. If it does, so will we. We have an entire culture that promotes unhealthy living; the Standard American Diet is a major downfall. We must find avenues to lead us to healthier results. Vegan Doc 8/2/19
