New foods: cultivated meat and plant-based swaps
Lab-grown meat, or cultivated meat, is animal tissue grown outside the animal: the US Food and Drug Administration describes makers multiplying a small number of an animal’s cells in sealed, sterile vessels [1]. Singapore’s food regulator found no food safety concerns when it reviewed Eat Just’s cultured chicken, and allowed it on sale in nuggets [2]. Regulators in the United States, Israel, and Australia and New Zealand have also let products go on sale, though the food is too new for long-term data on people eating it. Is lab-grown meat real meat, and is it safe? goes through what those reviews check, and Where can you buy lab-grown meat? tracks where it is legal.
Nobody needs plant-based meat to go vegan, but it suits meat eaters who would sooner swap one ingredient in a familiar dinner. In a 2022 Oxford trial of 115 regular meat eaters, half got four weeks of free substitutes with leaflets and recipes, and at four weeks ate 63g less meat a day than the half given nothing [3]. The result has not yet been replicated, and its authors thought its cost made the approach unlikely to work at scale in its current form [3]. Why eat fake meat instead of just vegetables? weighs that trial, and Is plant-based meat ultra-processed and unhealthy? finds most of it ultra-processed but, unlike processed meat, not a known cause of bowel cancer; in trials it has not raised LDL cholesterol, though one found poorer blood sugar control.
Cultivated meat
- Is lab-grown meat made from cancer cells?
Cultivated meat isn’t grown from cancer cells: some lines are immortalised, which is only one of cancer’s traits, and no study has shown it causes cancer. It was first approved in 2020, so long-term data are lacking.
- Is lab-grown meat better for the environment?
Lab-grown meat could emit far less than beef: CE Delft (2023) projected 92% less than beef from beef herds on renewable power. On fossil-heavy energy or pharmaceutical-grade growth medium, that lead shrinks or reverses.
- Will lab-grown meat ever be affordable?
Lab-grown meat is unlikely to match ordinary meat on price as made now, a 2024 review of cost studies found. David Humbird’s 2021 model put the cells alone at $37 a kilo to make, more than double the price of US mince.
- Is lab-grown meat real meat, and is it safe?
Lab-grown meat is animal tissue grown from animal cells, and regulators in Singapore (since 2020), the US, Israel, and Australia and New Zealand have assessed products and let them go on sale. Long-term data are lacking.
- What if plant-based and lab-grown meat fail?
The case for farming fewer animals doesn’t rest on plant-based or lab-grown meat: Poore and Nemecek (2018) found that dropping animal products, using existing farming methods, would cut food’s land use by 76%.
- Where can you buy lab-grown meat?
Lab-grown meat is legal to sell in only a few countries, including Singapore, Israel, Australia and the US, where five products were cleared by February 2026 (FoodNavigator). The UK and EU have approved none for people.
Plant-based meat, milk and cheese
- Why eat fake meat instead of just vegetables?
Meat substitutes can help meat eaters cut down: in a 2022 Oxford trial, free ones with leaflets cut meat eating by 63g a day. The trial is unreplicated, and putting them in one chain’s meat aisles did not cut meat sales.
- Is plant-based meat ultra-processed and unhealthy?
Plant-based meat is usually ultra-processed, but processed meat is the proven cancer risk: in 2015 IARC found each 50g a day raises bowel cancer risk by 18%. Trials found no harm to LDL; one found poorer blood sugar.
- Is precision fermentation GMO, and is it safe?
Precision-fermented proteins come from genetically modified microbes, which have made insulin since 1982 and chymosin for US cheese since 1990. Brewed whey is a milk allergen, and brewed casein may differ from the cow’s.
- Which plant milk is healthiest, and are the additives safe?
Fortified soya or pea drink comes nearest to cow’s milk: per 100g, soya averaged 2.8g of protein, pea 3.5g and milk 3.3g (US, 2022). EU reviews cleared the gums used; a 2024 French observational study linked two to diabetes.
- Is vegan cheese any good, and does it melt?
Vegan cheese still trails dairy on taste, but melting depends on the brand: in a 2025 NC State University test, 89% said one vegan mozzarella looked melted about right on pizza and 98% said another hadn’t melted enough.
Sources
- US Food and Drug Administration (2025), Human food made with cultured animal cells (opens in a new tab) (official)
- Singapore Food Agency (2023), Safety of alternative protein (opens in a new tab) (official)
- Bianchi et al. (2022), Replacing meat with alternative plant-based products (RE-MAP): a randomized controlled trial of a multicomponent behavioral intervention to reduce meat consumption, Am J Clin Nutr (opens in a new tab) doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqab414 (opens in a new tab) (trial)