Step aside meat packing plants. That's because a newer innovation called cultured beef - also called cultured meat - could take the center stage. Not just as a replacement for traditional ground beef products, but also as a way to potentially find a permanent solution for feeding the world's hungry.
Cultured beef is the newest culinary innovation to be procured. It was created by researchers from the U.S. and Germany, who have been working on a solution to end world hunger and meet growing demands for meat, and the protein it offers, worldwide.
The meat was on display at the EMTech Asia conference in Singapore recently. What's interesting about it is that it's created by harvesting the muscle cells from a cow, but it does not require that the cow be slaughtered. And it only requires harvesting of these cells one time, from one cow.
The cells are harvested and are nurtured. Over time, they multiply to create the muscle tissue, the very same muscle tissue that is harvested from slaughtered cows and then ground into the burger meat that's enjoyed around the world.
As global meat demands soar, experts say that in the next couple of decades demand will far outweigh supply. There simply won't be enough cows to sustain the world's burgeoning population.
The researchers working on the project said that they can culture meat from just about anything, whether that's fish, poultry or cattle.
Another plus to cultured beef and cultured meat in general is a reduced carbon footprint. Cattle, for example, emit massive amounts of dangerous methane gas, which harms our ecosystem. As demand increases, so will methane output, which can result in damaging our environment.
But cells from one cow can be used to create as many as 175 million burgers, whereas over 400,000 cows would be required using current domestic farming methods.
In case you are wondering, cultured meat is 100% natural and is not genetically modified in any way. It's not even remotely related to GMOs.
An ongoing study at University of Oxford has found that cultured beef would use 99% less space as conventional farmland and slaughterhouses, too.
All things considered, it could the "McSolution" that the meat eating world has been searching for. All puns intended.