HYDERABAD: Meat grown in the laboratory may help solve the problem of violent incidents like lynching, assault and intimidation by cow protection groups, that is creating ‘a pervasive air of violence’, Union minister Maneka Gandhi has said.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Future of Protein Summit’ at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here on Friday, she said, “It is the most important thing to create alternative sources of meat. We must have clean meat...People are being lynched for taking cows for slaughter. Why this terror?”
The summit, which was the first of its kind in India to discuss the expansion and feasibility of ‘clean meat’ in India where over 11 crore animals are killed every day for consumption.
Clean meat is a new, yet rapidly-growing genre in cellular technology where an animal’s cells are used to produce meat tissue with only cells. The technology, which is fast catching up in the US and Europe, seeks to produce a product that is actually a meat tissue but without bones and organs. It is not factually a living, breathing animal and eliminates the need to rear, breed and slaughter, something which has been the cause of concern to animal activists and vegans across the world.
Explaining how such a technology should be a government’s initiative to maintain peace and harmony in society, the Union minister said that animals must not be bred for consumption alone. The clean meat technology would boost rural economy, she added.
While the technology is at a very nascent stage in India, institutions like CCMB are planning to further expand it. “We have signed a MoU with Humane Society International India and Good Food Institute to look into the possibilities of using this technology to cater to people on a massive scale. Right now we can do it on a very small scale but we need start-ups to take up the challenge and scale it up so that we will be able to have a more sustainable meat on our plate,” said Rakesh Mishra, director of CCMB.