“This is no-kill meat,” says Josh Tetrick, CEO of Eat Just.

Eat Just is one of many companies developing what’s known as cultured meat. It’s made from real animal cells, but it’s grown in a lab, so no live animals and no slaughterhouses are involved.

The lab requires a lot of energy, but Tetrick says cultured meat is still better for the climate than conventional animal agriculture.

Raising animals is energy-intensive and requires large areas of land, so it can drive deforestation. That makes global warming worse.

Companies like Eat Just aim to give consumers a more sustainable source of meat.

“So we’re taking the good part about it – the meat and the nutritional composition. And we’re eliminating the bad part about it – the rampant deforestation, the overuse of antibiotics, the way we treat animals. We don’t need that stuff to be a part of our world anymore to get the meat that we want,” Tetrick says.

Eat Just is the first company to have a cultured meat product approved for sale. Its chicken bites will soon be available at restaurants in Singapore.

It will cost more than most conventional meat products. But Tetrick says cultured meat prices will fall as the industry grows.

Reporting credit: Stephanie Manuzak/ChavoBart Digital Media.