Sir, – Forward-thinking players in the food business are welcoming the advent of clean meat, or real meat grown from animal cells ("'Clean meat' coming to a supermarket shelf near you, but when?,", Business, October 10th).
The story of agriculture is one of constant innovation. We farm more efficiently today than we did yesterday, and tomorrow we’ll be even more efficient. A major part of that improvement will be in how we produce meat, and by divorcing meat production from livestock-raising, we’ll be able to produce vastly more meat with fewer resources, helping to feed a rapidly growing human population.
Clean meat will also allow us to reduce food safety risks since it’s less likely to be contaminated with intestinal pathogens like E. coli and salmonella. After all, these start-ups are growing muscle and fat, not intestines.
Rather than fighting agricultural innovation, many in the agri business are welcoming and becoming a part of the clean-meat movement, and rightly so. – Yours, etc,
PAUL SHAPIRO,
Sacramento,
California.