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September 15, 2017 Future of meat found in petri dish? Dairy prices remain mixed By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press By ALIYA HALL Capital Press Dairy Markets U David Parry/PA Wire Mark Post holds a burger made from cultured beef. Post said the motivation behind the devel- opment is food security, the environment and animal welfare. Memphis Meats Uma Valeti, Memphis Meats CEO and co-founder, center, and Nicholas Genovese, Memphis Meats co-founder, with a an employ- ee. They expect to offer their products to the public in 2021. website. The process of producing cultured meat starts with re- moving specific muscle stem cells — undifferentiated cells that can turn into specialized cells — from a cow, a harm- less procedure resembling a blood draw. The stem cells then divide to give researchers trillions of cells from the original sample. After enough cells have grown, they are assem- bled in groups of 1.5 million cells to form small muscle tissue, similar to muscle fi- bers in steak. From 10,000 of those fi- bers, a patty can be formed by adding salt, breadcrumbs and binder, according to Post. The process takes four to six weeks. “We are currently focus- ing on hamburgers because we rely on self-organization of the muscle cells to form muscle tissue or fibers,” Post said. “That process results in small tissues that are large enough for minced meat ap- plications, which accounts for 50 percent of the meat market.” Memphis Meats can now grow a pound of meat for less than $2,400 — a steep drop from the $18,000 it took to produce it in 2016. The com- pany was co-founded in 2015 by Valeti and Nicholas Geno- vese, who is also the chief security officer. Post expects the price to be about $10 per hamburg- er once the production is at scale. As technology im- proves, however, it will come down to a price that’s com- petitive with beef, the com- pany predicts. Post joined Netherland research teams in 2007, af- ter gaining funding from the Dutch government. Even though the grant expired in 2009, Post continues to work on cultured meat through the Cultured Beef company. In 2016, the cattle industry was second among Oregon’s agricultural commodities, bringing in $701.2 million. Nationally, the industry had sales of $64.4 billion. Post said surveys in Eu- ropean countries and the U.S. have shown that 20 to 50 percent of consumers are willing to try cultured meat, but Jerome Rosa, executive director of the Oregon Cat- tlemen’s Association, hasn’t seen any data to prove that traditional meat eaters will switch to cultured meat. “I find it hard to believe; I think that’s a real stretch,” he said. “Consumers seem to be moving toward an anti-lab sentiment. All the concerns we hear about anti-GMOs, and with the continued in- crease of organic products out there, we see an increase in natural. To come out with a petri-dish product, it’s some- thing that seems to not be the direction of what consumers are wanting.” Rosa is also concerned about the food waste issue if cultured meat were to gain momentum. Byproducts from food processing and even making beer are now fed to cattle. “These (food waste) by- products are fed to cattle. If there’s not a demand for cattle feed out there, these products are going in the landfill,” he said. “We’re tak- ing food waste products and turning them into first-class protein to feed people; that’s a significant environmental benefit.” He used malts as an ex- ample. The microbrewery industry is a large business sector in Oregon, and the malt from the breweries goes to feed cattle. Rosa also said that ranch- ers are able to “make food and protein to feed the world on land that is unusable for other food production.” “Fundamentally the dis- cussion has led to: We really believe that meat comes from an animal raised by a farmer or rancher — there’s no sub- stitute for that,” he said. .S. dairy markets took last week’s Dairy Prod- ucts report and Global Dairy Trade auction in stride in the Labor Day holiday-short- ened week. The block cheddar closed Friday at $1.6425 per pound, up 10 1/4-cents on the week but 6 3/4-cents below a year ago. The barrels climbed to $1.58 Wednesday, then re- lapsed and finished at $1.54, still 2 cents higher on the week, 6 1/2-cents below a year ago, but 10 1/4-cents below the blocks. Twenty-two cars of block and 62 of barrel traded hands on the week. The blocks inched down a quarter-cent Monday and stayed there Tuesday at $1.64. The barrels were unchanged Monday but jumped 3 cents Tuesday, to $1.57. Reports on milk availabil- ity for cheese production are mixed in the Central region, ac- cording to Dairy Market News. Some producers reported that expected milk supplies were reduced by bottlers for school intakes. Spot milk prices into Class III ranged from $1.50 under to $1 over Class. Cheese sales are slower for Midwest cheesemakers but some pizza cheesemakers are still reporting heavy orders. The market tone is unstable. Western cheese output is ac- tive with plenty of milk finding its way into the vat. Contacts describe domestic demand as steady or solid; however, some indicate a short term lull on ei- ther side of the last summertime holiday weekend. Food service demand is picking up slightly as schools resume. Invento- ries are larger than typical, but some participants feel this is a new norm. International buyers are watching U.S. prices and as the price fluctuates, so does their level of interest. It was a weak week for but- Lee Mielke ter, which dropped to $2.4375 per pound Tuesday, lowest price since June 1, 2017, then recovered some, but finished at $2.4575, down a nickel on the week and the fifth consecu- tive week of decline, but is still 42 1/2-cents above a year ago. It lost 4 3/4-cents Monday but regained 1 3/4-cents Tues- day, inching back to $2.4275. Butter makers are taking advantage of favorable cream prices and butter output con- tinues as peak demand season draws near. Western output is follow- ing the previous week’s trend and inventories are sufficient to meet the needs of buyers and end-users. Grade A nonfat dry milk closed Friday at 82 1/2-cents per pound, down 3 3/4-cents on the week and 8 cents below a year ago. Monday took the powder down a half-cent and it held there Tuesday at 82 cents per pound. Where did milk go? USDA’s latest Dairy Prod- ucts report shows July cheese output totaled 1.03 billion pounds, down 0.3 percent from June but 1.0 percent above July 2016. Year-to-date output stands at 7.2 billion pounds, up 2.5 percent from a year ago. Italian cheese totaled 449.5 million pounds, down 0.1 per- cent from June but 1.2 percent above a year ago, with YTD output at 3.1 billion pounds, up 1.3 percent. Mozzarella, at 352.1 mil- lion pounds, was up 1.1 per- cent, with YTD at 2.4 billion pounds, up 0.8 percent. Total American type cheese produc- tion hit 401.8 million pounds, down 0.4 percent from June but 0.2 percent above a year ago. Z IMMATIC Parma, Idaho (208) 722-5121 Grand View, Idaho (208) 834-2380 Winnemucca, Nevada (775) 625-1945 Idaho Falls, Idaho (208) 881-5160 9 Dairy/Livestock Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters By the year 2021, a San Francisco company says some meat production will look different. Very different. Instead of animals raised on ranches, meat will also be produced in laboratory petri dishes. Variously called “clean” meat or “cultured” meat, it is produced using stem cell technology. Memphis Meats in San Fransisco and Cultured Beef in the Netherlands plan to compete with traditional meat for a spot in grocers’ re- frigerators. “We’re going to bring meat to the plate in a more sustainable, affordable and delicious way,” said Dr. Uma Valeti, co-founder and CEO of Memphis Meats, in a press release. “Meat demand is growing rapidly around the world. We want the world to keep eating what it loves. However, he said, “The way conventional meat is produced today creates chal- lenges for the environment, animal welfare and human health.” In 2016, the Americans ate 25.668 billion pounds of beef, according to the Na- tional Cattlemen’s Beef As- sociation, whose members raise most of the nation’s cattle. The World Health Organi- zation estimates that today 70 percent of arable land world- wide is used for livestock agriculture, and in 2050 meat consumption will be 70 per- cent higher than it currently is. “That would mean that we don’t have enough land on the planet to increase livestock volume to match that demand,” Mark Post, a researcher at Cultured Beef, said on the company’s CapitalPress.com Mountain Home, Idaho (208) 580-4002 NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST ZIMMATIC DEALERS TM BY LINDSAY Paul, Idaho (208) 438-8103 Kimberly, Idaho (208) 423-5220 37-3/108 37-1/101