GFI’s Kaitlin Grady talks cultivated meat

Kaitlin Grady is development manager for the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating alternative protein innovation. She has a long history of animal activism. If you support public funding for cultivated-meat research and want to be interviewed by Slaughter-Free America on the subject, email JonHoch87@gmail.com.

SLAUGHTER-FREE AMERICA: Can you tell me a little bit about your involvement with the animal movement?

KAITLIN GRADY: I became vegetarian at age 4 when I asked my mother if my Burger King chicken sandwich was "chicken, like the animal, or another name for the food, like how 'orange' can mean the fruit or the color.'" Upon learning the truth, I stopped eating meat and haven't looked back, becoming vegan 20 years later upon learning about the cruelty of the dairy and egg industries. 

I have been involved in animal activism for the past decade: co-organizing a plant-based chef challenge called the Bull City Vegan Challenge with fellow activist and challenge founder Eleni Vlachos (@youbigtalker), establishing a “Meatless Monday” proclamation in the City of Durham, NC, organizing Humane Lobby Days as a District Leader for the Humane Society of the United States, canvassing for animal protection legislation including the successful Yes On 3 ballot measure to prevent animal cruelty in Massachusetts, and organizing Vegan Drinks meetups in North Carolina and Chicago. 

SFA: When and how did you first learn about cultivated meat?

KG: I first learned about cultivated meat in 2016 upon discovering the Good Food Institute, a global nonprofit thinktank that works to accelerate alternative proteins, including plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated meat, in support of a more sustainable food system and future. At this time I also discovered Upside Foods (then Memphis Meats), a food company growing real meat directly from animal cells.

SFA: How did you come to support cultivated meat?

KG: 70 billion land animals and trillions of marine animals are killed for human consumption each year. A majority of these animals are raised in factory farms, where they experience brutal forms of abuse in severely overcrowded and putrid conditions for the entirety of their short lives. Moreover, raising animals for meat is an extremely inefficient way to create protein. About 25 calories is required to create just 1 calorie of beef. The ratio for pork is nearer 15-to-1. Even the most efficient meat, chicken, requires 9 calories of input to produce just 1 calorie of food. According to the United Nations, we will need to produce 70-100% more meat by 2050 to feed a global population of 10 billion people. This is despite the fact that year after year, we read reports about the unsustainability of meat production and consumption. 

By growing meat directly from animal cells, we can modernize meat production and sustainably feed more people with fewer resources. Cultivated meat allows people to enjoy the real meat they love without the many externalities of industrial meat, which include but are not limited to: environmental devastation, climate change, land use, antibiotic resistance, zoonotic disease and pandemics, food security, environmental racism and exploitation of slaughterhouse workers, and animal suffering.

SFA: Once cultivated meat is cheaper than and indistinguishable or superior in taste to slaughtered meat, what sort of impact might it have on traditional agriculture?

KG: Cultivated meat is projected to reduce land use by 63-95%. This land can be rewilded to sequester carbon and repurposed to rebuild ecosystems and simply grow more food for human beings, thereby significantly offsetting carbon emissions and addressing global food security. Moreover, this will free up additional land for regenerative farmers to raise animals, as currently regenerative meat accounts for less than 1% of meat production, with 99%+ of meat produced on factory farms.

SFA: What would you say to animal activists who are opposed to cultivated meat?

KG: Cultivated meat is genuine animal meat that is produced by cultivating animal cells directly. The most common method for obtaining cells is to take a small, harmless muscle biopsy or skin sample from a healthy, living animal. This production method eliminates the need to raise and farm animals for food, thereby sparing billions of animals lives of unfathomable suffering. This TIME piece, "The Cow That Could Feed The Planet," profiles cows living peacefully while providing cells used to create cultivated meat. "They roam through tree-shaded meadows, tearing up mouthfuls of clover while nursing their calves in tranquility." I also love that Australian cultivated meat company Magic Valley includes a profile of Lucy the Lamb, who provided the company's very first cells to create cultivated meat and continues to lead a happy and healthy life.

SFA: Would you eat cultivated meat, or is it just something you want available for others?

KG: I look forward to eating cultivated meat! Though I haven't eaten animal meat in 30 years, I don't abstain from animal products out of distaste; I'm vegan because of the aforementioned externalities of industrial animal production, notably the unthinkable suffering experienced by animals on factory farms, which produce 99%+ of meat, dairy, and eggs. I eagerly await and work toward a future where all consumers can choose to eat cultivated meat: real, slaughter-free meat grown outside of the animal.

SFA: Do you think activists should expend energy and resources to help advance cellular agriculture, by pushing for more government funding for cultivated-meat research?

KG: Activists can advance cellular agriculture by supporting and amplifying the work of organizations like the Good Food Institute, whose policy team is working to secure government support for alternative protein research and advocate public policy that places all proteins on a level playing field. Public support and fair policy will ensure that alternative proteins are affordable and accessible, leading to a more resilient food supply, more choices for consumers, and a stronger economy. Check out this recent State of Global Policy report, which summarizes the alternative protein investments, support, and regulation enacted worldwide.