Lab grown meat India : How India can be a slaughter-free nation in 10 years without banning meat 

Lab grown meat India has started popping up on the plates worldwide, as also on excel sheets. Big international alt meat startups like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are being valued at $10 billion or more

                                       Prashant Chavhan March03, 2023 16:12:24 IST

Representational image. PC

India may be the cradle of spiritually inspired vegetarianism, but it has also been a survival meat dish since the time of hunter-gatherers.

The National Family Health Survey-4 of 2015-16 shows that 70 percent of women and 78 percent of men in India are non-vegetarian. So communities like South Delhi may pass rules ordering closure of meat shops during Navratri, but that would only amount to an insult to the breathtakingly diverse Hindu traditions and lifestyle.

In his celebrated book Ancient India, historian RC Majumdar writes, "Both animal and plant food was eaten by the Aryans. Not only fish, birds, goats and rams, but horses, buffaloes and even oxen were included in their diet. He was killed for this." ,

Meat was a basis of polarization in India, not only between Hindus and Muslims or Jains and Christians but also between vegetarian and non-vegetarian Hindus.

Still, a movement is going on silently. Science can ultimately bridge the controversial divide by addressing ethical, biological, nutritional and environmental aspects.

Cultured meat, sometimes called laboratory meat, clean meat, in vitro meat or cultured meat, is something grown in a laboratory from animal cells. It is real meat, but it does not require the slaughter of any animals, as is the case with conventional meat. Scientists take stem cells from an animal. They immerse the cells in a liquid containing nutrients so that they can double in size. Then they put them in a bioreactor to grow. The uncooked meat is then used to make burgers, sausages and other items.

File image showing a lab-grown meat burger made from cultured beef, which has been developed by Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands. AP

Slaughter-free meat has started popping up on the plates worldwide, as also on excel sheets. Big international alt meat startups like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are being valued at $10 billion or more. Investors have poured more than $2 billion into lab meat in the last two years, according to CrunchBase data. By 2040, 60 percent of all meat in the world is projected to be slaughter-free.

Image Courtesy: impossiblefoods.com

The year 2020 was a turning point. A chicken product developed by Eat Just has made its way onto the menu of a restaurant in Singapore. The country's food authority approved its sale to the public. This paves the way for further regulatory approvals around the world.

Lab-grown meat reduces the carbon footprint required to raise and feed animals, as well as reduces the risk of contamination from E. coli and antibiotic resistance. It is a great protein alternative, especially for people who are allergic to animal proteins. Most importantly, it allows an animal to survive.

And this fits perfectly with the Indian ethos of non-violence towards helpless and innocent people. This allows for a meat-eating lifestyle that is particularly close to the teachings of Jainism, Buddhism, and some Hindu sects.

According to data from Allied Market Research, the in vitro meat market in India is expected to grow from $2 million recently to $3 billion by 2030. The Asia-Pacific region, in which India and China are largely potential growth areas, had the highest market share in 2019 at 62.8 percent.

But if the Modi government and states can aggressively raise awareness about Indian lab-grown meat, encourage startups in the sector, and make regulatory approvals watertight but simple, the size of this market could more than double. Could be even more. India can become a slaughter-free nation.

Indians are culturally and spiritually oriented towards caring for animals and the environment. They are also very adept at adopting new and useful technologies. Be it mobile phones or LED light bulbs, even the less privileged Indians have abandoned generational traditions to adopt new technologies and modern lifestyles. Many vegetarians today do not find any guilt in eating lab-grown meat because it does not involve animal cruelty.

Recommendations By FSSAI For Labelling Of Plant-Based Meat Products

The FSSAI has to come up with specific guidelines for labeling of plant-based meat products & allow the existing naming conventions followed through the company to continue:

• The FSSAI can use of qualifiers in the names of plant-based products; the use of qualifiers or ingredient names helps customers identify the product’s true nature.

• The FSSAI could sensitize and educate customers to familiarize them with plant-based meat products.

• The FSSAI should interact with stakeholders while deciding upon guidelines and norms for plant-based meat products; the task force can invite proposals or suggestions from the stakeholders for a regulatory framework for plant-based meat products.