Would you eat meat grown in a laboratory?

In a country as addicted to barbecues as Australia, the prospects for meat grown from cells in a laboratory don't see strong. But lab-grown beef, poultry, pork and fish may be part of an answer to climate change and animal welfare. says Uma Valeti, CEO of the US-based company behind the program, Memphis Meats. A report released in June by a consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, predicts that by 2040, cell-based meat will make up 35 percent of meat consumed worldwide. This cultured meat is produced by extracting cells from a donor animal and growing those cells into raw meat. Memphis Meats is one of a few pioneering firms in the area and have attracted some significant investors, including Richard Branson and Bill Gates. But Valeti - who trained as a cardiologist and started the company after seeing the power of stem cells to treat disease - admits they're far from mainstream. But he says as the population grows, and the production of meat by traditional methods becomes more problematical, the project is all about increasing choice.

Cooked cultured chicken, grown in a laboratory. Source: AAP