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.
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(208) 834-2380
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Idaho Falls, Idaho
(208) 881-5160
9
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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
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