“Clean meat”: What’s in a name?

Lab-grown food products intended to replace conventionally-raised meat and poultry have been generating buzz lately due to increasing efforts by activist groups such as ‘The Good Food Institute’ – one of the new kids on the block. These products aren’t really a concern in and of themselves. They offer choices to consumers in the marketplace, which is always a good thing. Given the forecasts that food production will need to double by 2050, lab grown meat can also be an additional way to help meet that demand. The fact that meat industry players like Cargill and Tyson have invested in meat alternative startups should reflect that the meat industry isn’t exactly running scared.As always, the devil is in the marketing with activist groups pushing the moniker of “clean meat” in place of “lab grown” or “cultured.” This term is clearly an attempt to first imply that conventionally produced meat is “dirty” by comparison and second to distance the product from the technology used to produce it (since we know from the GMO debate that consumer reactions to technology in food production are mixed at best).