BECOMING CLEAN: How Can China Fulfill Its Rising Meat Demand?
The increase of meat consumption and the negative externalities of industrial agriculture are beginning to take their toll in China, as well as in other regions such as the Amazon.
LAYNE VANDENBERG: The demand for meat and milk in China is growing rapidly. Nearly 1.5 billion people live in China, and each person eats, on average, about 2.5 times more meat than in the early 1990s… Despite rising domestic production and meat imports, China will still struggle to meet its rapidly rising demand for meat in coming decades.
Domestically, China is limited by diminishing amounts of arable land and potable water, as well as affordable feed (aggravated by its trade dispute with the United States). This is combined with the volatility of livestock populations in China and abroad, made evident by the ongoing crisis of African Swine Fever (which has resulted in the decimation of over 40 percent of the country’s pig population), as well as the vagaries of weather patterns and climate change.
These threats to ongoing supply should also be considered in the context of the health problems raised by the live animal trade and industrial farming, including animal borne diseases. This is most recently showcased by COVID-19 but evident in other cases such as Avian Flu, as well as the issue of antibiotic resistance due to high levels of microbial use in industrial farming.
Unlike in the West – where well-established standards are dedicated to farm animal welfare – China has no animal welfare standards… Industrial agriculture is causing a range of environmental and health issues, which is particularly relevant currently, as humanity struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic caused by a zoonotic disease (transmitted from animals to humans). Zoonoses, which proliferate through industrial agriculture, are considered to be the origin of up to 70 percent of emerging infectious diseases…
In such an environment, cultivated meat has the potential to provide a protein source that can be reliable, safe, and absent of the problems attendant with industrial farming, while also being familiar to our palate and food traditions. Cultivated meat refers to meat produced not through the slaughter of an animal, but through a growth process which originates with animal cells and is then undertaken in a separate environment outside of the animal.
This results in a biologically identical piece of meat to that produced conventionally. The process of cultivating meat may differ based on the application of technology and growth processes, but first requires a small sample of cells from a living animal, which can be obtained without any harm to the animal. These cells are then placed in an environment intended to mimic the animal’s body, including replicating important processes like movement and nutrition…
China illustrates how rising incomes are typically accompanied by rising meat consumption… The negative externalities of industrial agriculture are beginning to take their toll in China, as well as in other interconnected regions such as the Amazon. These externalities will also begin to take their toll in other countries as the industrialization of animal agriculture inevitably increases. The effects of such increases will have both domestic and global consequences for the environment, as well as human and animal welfare. SOURCE…
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