Guadalajara (Mexico), (EFE).- The creation of meat in laboratories will be possible in Mexico in the long term, when climatic conditions make investment and public policy for this type of technology urgent, María Salud Rubio told EFE this Thursday. , academic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
“If we do not bring more people who are experts in this area, there is a lot of time left for Mexico to be able to produce something like this, that will not happen if there is not a brutal investment and a union of work groups,” said the specialist in an interview with EFE after his participation in the 2024 International Meat Congress that takes place in Guadalajara, capital of the state of Jalisco (western Mexico).
Singapore and Israel example of cultured meat
Rubio assured that countries such as Singapore and Israel have developed this technology and have been marketing laboratory-created meat since 2021 and last year it was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In Argentina and Brazil, there are companies that are investing in the “design” of meat, while in Mexico, a company has managed to create meat from vegetable protein that is being commercialized and is awaiting private investment to begin experimenting with protein. beef, he explained.
This technology can be an alternative for a probable food shortage derived from the water crisis and the rise in temperatures expected for the next two decades as a result of global warming, he emphasized.
“It is said that by 2050 or 2060 this type of product may occupy between 8% and 10% of the market, not before, people will take it because we can also design a lot of flavors, textures, a lot of things They can be done, but we are not there yet,” he said.
Laboratory-grown meat is developed from the cell culture of a membrane that covers the muscle mass of cattle, chicken or pigs that can be reproduced using molecular biology and genetic techniques, which require specialized resources.
The 14th edition of the International Meat Congress 2024 will be held on April 25 and 26 in the city of Guadalajara with the participation of 306 companies, ranchers, meat producers, manufacturers and distributors of machinery and packaging, as well as other entities that participate. in the meat production chain. EFE
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