Lab-grown meat: A modern challenge in food production from the Jewish aspect

Abstract

The modern food industry is increasingly using the tools of genetic engineering in the production and sale of food products. One of the most important recent technological innovations is lab-grown meat (or "synthetic" meat). The lab-grown meat industry is based on the genetic duplication of animal cells under laboratory conditions in order to attempt to produce a product with the nutritional and culinary value of animal meat. Some predict that this industry will play an important role in the human diet of the future. The beginning of this process is based on cells taken from live animals. In recent years, new methods of laboratory meat production based on non-meat cells have begun to develop. For example, in one of them, the cells are taken from a pre-embryo found in a fertilized egg (blastula). Otherwise, the cells are taken from a pre-embryo taken from a cow (blastocyst). This topic raises various questions and many challenges in the fields of health, ecology, ethics and, of course, religion. How should we treat such meat? Is meat produced in a laboratory kosher? Is it Halal? Is the product meaty or synthetic? Do the initial stem cells determine the definition of the final product, and, further on, what is the status of such a product when it is produced from pig stem cells? On the ethical level, a general question is posed on the subject of genetic engineering. Is it permissible to intervene so blatantly in the nature that God created? This article will focus on the various challenges that this industry raises from the Jewish ethical and kashrut aspects, and address some questions.