By Sophia Kim '26
Meat. It’s everywhere, from our cafeteria’s burrito bowls to those KFC wings you ordered last Friday. Most of us devour those chewy fibers without an afterthought. But if we stopped to think about what we were consuming, what would we find?
Mass market demands for meats over the years, an estimated 14.9% increase between 2010 and 2020, have fostered the industrialization of the meat industry, with large factory farms brimming with livestock and thus providing the perfect place for infections to fester. Furthermore, for faster results, an estimated 73% of significant medical antibiotics are doled out in low amounts worldwide to prompt growth. However, this leads to the development of antibiotic resistance in viruses that exist amongst these livestock, rendering modern surgical antibiotics useless and increasing the dangers of possible cross-infections between species (and the experience of going under surgery, as it might not be as safe with open wounds and no effective treatments).
Furthermore, another factor to consider is the experiences the animals undergo, as they are the ones who suffer most and see the impacts of this inhumane system firsthand. Factory farms for poultry are especially cruel towards meat chickens, killed at an astonishing rate of 2000 per second worldwide according to the World Animal Protection Organization, and restrained to roaming a cramped space spanning the estimated size of an A4 paper according to the Netflix documentary ‘You Are What You Eat’ without access to the outside world, in addition to experiencing arthritis-like pain from their manufactured large breasts with skinny and low- density leg bones for the demands of the food industry.
The environmental costs in exchange for cheaper meats are unfathomable. Giant meatpackers, like JBS, have recently been discovered to be grazing cattle in the Amazon on illegally deforested lands, according to a December article from the NYT. These actions greatly impact the rainforest and contribute immensely to biodiversity loss. They are performed solely to contribute to affordable Brazilian beef. These are also the suppliers to large fast-food chains, who, in search of a wider profit margin, have cut monetary costs at the expense of the environment, animals, and human lives.
However, there is a combat force to all this, and cultured meat has taken great leaps over the past years since the first meat burger was created in 2013 according to the Good Food Institute, made with meat grown in a lab from stem cells of various livestock rather than a slaughterhouse. Samples replicate under bioreactors (cultivators) with amino acid nutrients to form the muscle fibers. However, there are immense energy costs to produce said products, and though this process already helps offset the energy used for regular meat, the most effective and sustainable method suggested is renewable energy, which could decrease GHG by an estimated 92%.
In addition, though production costs are still high, these lab-grown meats are becoming more accessible, with Singapore approving cultured chicken meat in December 2020 and the US FDA having already approved it in June 2023. According to a CNN article on 'Meat Without Slaughter,' users' responses were mostly similar to regular meat in terms of flavor and texture.
Though notable progress is being forged in the meat industry, it’s crucial to recognize the significant shortcomings of ongoing business models that need to change as a prerequisite to a greener and healthier planet. The future of humanity is incomplete without considering the humanitarian costs of our diets.
Senior Editor: Caridee Chau '25
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