How far is artificial meat from us?

recently, the new concept of "artificial meat" has attracted public attention. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review named the artificial meat burger one of the "Top Ten Breakthrough Technologies in the World" in 2019, side by side with customized cancer vaccines, new wave of nuclear energy, smart robots, and more.
is artificial meat? What's the taste? Is it safe? Can the future be a traditional meat substitute? Xinhua News Agency reporters recently visited a U.S. artificial seafood company called Finless Foods to find out.
, which was founded in June 2016 and focuses on using biotechnology to develop artificial seafood, has attracted $4 million in investment. The company has four cell biology laboratories in the United States, Japan and Europe.
reporters at the headquarters of the cell biology laboratory, here equipped with air filtration facilities, cell computers, cell molecular instrument, bioanalyst and other sophisticated instruments.
artificial meat is divided into two main categories, one is soy protein meat, made from soy and other plant protein, rich in a lot of protein and a small amount of fat, very popular among vegetarians. The other is artificial meat made from animal stem cells and biotechnology, where researchers grow stem cells in utensils using amino acids, sugars, fats and other substances to slowly "grow up" and taste similar to traditional meats.
"finless food" is currently mainly made of artificial bluefin tuna. Bluefin tuna is considered the top ingredient for making sushi and sesal fillies, but its population has plummeted due to slow growth and overfishing and is on the endangered species list.
CEO Michael Selden told reporters that laboratory culture of bluefin tuna will not only protect the marine ecology and reduce energy consumption, but also prevent the body from absorbing mercury, plastics, growth hormone, antibiotics and other harmful substances that fish gather in the marine environment. In addition, laboratory synthesis is much faster than fish growth cycles, with bluefin tuna growing in the ocean for about three years, but the number of fish cells in the laboratory doubles every 24 hours.
The researchers described the general process of synthetic seafood: first, through filtration and screening, to extract fish cells from a piece of live fish, then in the laboratory culture, cell division, into fish sauce, and then add enzymes to provide the sugar, salt, protein and other nutrients needed for cell growth, and by adjusting air pressure, acidity and alkalinity to simulate the growth environment of fish, so that the cells eventually "grow" fish.
says artificial seafood tastes the same as real seafood, and the biggest obstacle is that it's too expensive. The first piece of lab-cultured bluefin tuna, which cost $19,000 (0.45 kg) per pound, has fallen to $5,000 a pound, but is still much more expensive than wild bluefin tuna.
, he said, the company has made progress in reducing costs, and the cultured artificial seafood products have passed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture safety certification, is expected to be available within five years.
the rise of artificial meat is the transformation of human way of life, diet and consumption. "The next generation of protein is not about making meat more, it's about making meat better," wrote Bill Gates, guest winner of this year's MIT Technology Review's "Top 10 Breakthrough Technologies in the World." It allows us to better feed a world of growing populations and rising living standards without fuelling deforestation or methane emissions, so that we can enjoy burgers without killing any animals. According
U.S. media reports, there are at least nine artificial meat companies in the United States, a total of 26 worldwide. The U.S. leader in artificial meat technology plans to launch commercial products by the end of 2019. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture will complete regulations on artificial meat testing and labeling this fall.