Question: How hard is it to grow meat?

Abi Aspen Glencross answered on 6 Mar 2016:

Heya Luke!

Well some meats are harden than others. Conventionally processed meats (such as burgers) are essentially minced up meat so the structure is very different to say, a steak. Have you ever noticed how a chicken nugget has texture very different to say chicken breast. With processed meats we can produce muscle fibres (protein is the main component in meat aside from water) on their own then combine them at the end.

However there is no fat or connective tissue (that gives your meat that ‘bite’) present. There are researchers looking into this too!

With whole cuts of meat (say steak) this is harder. To grow a number of muscle fibres together we need to supply all the cells with oxygen and nutrients. In our body this is done by our blood vessels (veins, arteries and capillaries) so we have to recreate this outside of the body. This is quite a lot harder as we have to either grow blood vessels or create a new way to supply the tissue! That is what I work on 🙂