The Fight Over the Future of Meat

In 2024, eleven members of the U.S. Congress wrote an urgent letter: China is investing in lab-grown meat, and this could forever change who controls our food. This is not about food fads: what is at stake is national security. The idea that meat produced without animals is a geopolitical issue may seem surreal, but it most certainly is not. Until now, we have thought of alternative meat as an ethical or health-conscious choice, something found in organic supermarkets. Yet for Xi Jinping, it is a lever of global power. If China succeeds in exporting technology to produce meat without animals – perhaps tying it to political conditions, as it already does with infrastructure – its strategic clout will grow. One piece of data makes it clear why: To produce one calorie of chicken, it takes between 8 and 11 calories of feed. It is a wasteful system, vulnerable to any crisis: drought, war, animal diseases, rising energy prices. That's why anyone who can produce “meat that consumers like” by bypassing this entire supply chain will claim a huge share of a $2 trillion market. But who are the key players in this new race? On the one hand, there is Xi Jinping, who repeats every year: “The Chinese people’s rice bowl must remain in our hands, filled primarily with Chinese grain.” However, today, to meet domestic meat demand, China is importing more and more meat and feed: its food self-sufficiency has dropped from 94% to 66% in two decades. Animal epidemics – from African swine fever to avian influenza – have often brought the system to its knees. For Xi, cultured meat is a lifeline: less dependence on imports, less risk of epidemics. In 2023, the Chinese startup CellX launched its first pilot plant for cultured meat. The following year, Chinese officials tasted cultured pork from Joes Future Foods. Sale to the public is not yet authorized, but the direction is clear. On the other side of the spectrum is the United States. The U.S. was the first country to invest in research, approve products, and build an ecosystem of startups and giants such as Tyson Foods and Cargill that are focusing on alternative meat. But now, the U.S. pace is likely to slow, while countries like South Korea and the United Kingdom are overtaking the U.S. in public investment. One anecdote says it all: In 2019, the Trump administration gave $3.55 million to the University of California for a cultured meat consortium. Then more funding followed, but since 2021, China has included cultured meat in its five-year plans, surpassed Europe and the US in agricultural investment, and now leads in scientific publications and patents. And it’s not just a China–US issue: Israel, Brazil, India, Singapore, and Japan are making alternative meat a national priority, often in response to food shocks and social unrest caused by rising food prices. Remember the uprisings in Tunisia and Haiti? It all started with the cost of bread or rice. Now, imagine a future where meat no longer depends on vulnerable livestock farming, fragile transportation systems, and limited resources. Matt Spence, a former Pentagon Middle East security official, has seen firsthand how armed groups have used hunger as a weapon. For him, investing in alternative meat is a security priority. But there is a blind spot in the debate: regulation. Without clear rules, companies don't take risks, investors hold back, and innovations stay in the lab. The U.S. Congress has just allocated billions for research, but everything hinges on the willingness to treat alternative meat as a “strategic technology,” like chips or pharmaceuticals. If the U.S. lets go, it risks losing leadership not only in economic terms, but also in terms of food security and geopolitical influence. Here is the perspective that is almost always overlooked: the “meat war” is not just a recipe contest, but the new frontier for deciding who will control global value chains. The key phrase to remember is this: today, alternative meat is where solar panels and car batteries were fifteen years ago—those who lag behind now will miss out on the next industrial revolution. If you think the race between real meat and lab-grown meat is just a matter of taste, think again: it's a battle for global power. If you recognized yourself in this story, on Lara Notes you can press I'm In – it's not a like; it's your way of saying: This idea is now mine. And if tomorrow you tell someone that cultured meat is the new frontier of geopolitics, you can mark it on Lara Notes: Shared Offline is your way of saying that conversation mattered. This Note is based on an article from Foreign Policy. You have saved yourself over twenty minutes of reading.