Do you love meat but not the effects it has on the planet and its animals? SuperMeat is an online campaign that has set out to change the way we eat meat. Their goal is to widely distribute meat-generating machines. Imagine having your own meat-making machine in your home. Seems unreal, right?
Professor Yaakov Nahmias from the University of Jerusalem and co-CEO Koby Barak joined together to create a sustainable solution for meat and mass support locally due to the growing vegan movement in Israel. SuperMeat has already raised over $100,000 (2.5 million being the end goal) and they aim to produce cultured meat that is unique to their company. The process developed by Nahmias involves taking cells from an animal in the form of a small biopsy and incubating it in a machine that mimics the environment of that particular animal’s physiology. It’s inferred then that animal muscle and fat will grow within this machine, and the end product will be just like a regular piece of meat. The company’s main selling point is that there is absolutely no harm done to the animals used for the biopsies. They also boast that this process will make meat safer since it’s produced in a clean, controlled environment. It eliminates the use of added antibiotics and other unnecessary factors that occur in meat production. An additional benefit is that we can completely avoid deadly bacterial strains, such as E. coli which has accounted for numerous deaths, and a newly discovered mutation called MCR-1 which has been found to be resistant to all forms of antibiotics. There will come a day where antibiotics won’t save us from this harmful bacteria and that day is steadily approaching if we don’t make a change in livestock production.
SuperMeat seeks to put a stop to the global warming epidemic that is threatening our earth. According to the documentary “Cowspiracy,” livestock contribute 51 percent of all total greenhouse gases in comparison to transportation which only emits 13 percent. There is also the very noble and ethical cause of closing down animal slaughterhouses. According to recent data collected by the Humane Society, about 9.2 billion animals were slaughtered for food in 2015 in the U.S., and that doesn’t even include sea life. The demand for meat grows as the population is expanding, and the devastating impact of meat is something that needs to addressed. Removing livestock from the equation has the potential to solve world hunger by making crops suitable for humans, along with putting a stop to species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution and habitat destruction. Taking a five-minute shower to save water but then having a hamburger is counterproductive when you find out that approximately 460 gallons of water is needed to produce one-fourth pound of beef. Comparing this to a potato which only requires 75 gallons of water to produce gives you an estimate of how wasteful meat is in terms of water consumption. Records are obtained from the water footprint network which is an environmental organization dedicated to track the water footprint of our food choices and explaining the impact.
The company dreams to one day see a SuperMeat machine in major stores around the world. If you are interested in making a difference to countless lives and the planet, be sure to do your own research and support SuperMeat in their quest to save the planet and its animals.