Gulf citizens told to get used to lab-grown meat

By Ibrahim Mukhtar

ANKARA (AA) – A royal Saudi businessman has called on people of the Gulf to get used to lab-grown meat as part of their diets irrespective of whether they like it or not.

Speaking at the Middle East Agri-Food Briefing, the CEO of KBW Ventures, Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed, said he made massive investments into the lab-grown meat, which is also known as cellular agriculture, as he believes it will play an important role in ensuring the region’s food security going forward.

“Cellular agriculture is a large amount of meat that is being consumed here in the region and everywhere in the world whether we like it or not, whether people are components of this or not. The reality is that companies will vastly understand that the inefficiencies of animal agriculture far outweigh any benefits that it can provide,” Prince Khaled said.

The CEO of the US-based company insisted that lab-grown meat is “exactly” similar to the meat of a slaughtered animal, calling for people to be “educated on the fact this is a one-to-one replica of the same thing.”

He singled out Qatar with praise for leading the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the field of cellular agriculture and urged the public sector to participate in promoting the project.

“We can’t just throw money at an issue and expect it to be solved, we have to have innovation, we have to have the private sector chip in,” he said.

He expressed hope that the cellular agriculture industry will boom in the Gulf if the GCC countries support the private sector in this regard.