It’s already tough to distinguish between real food and fake “Frankenfoods” at the grocery store. But a new revolution in food technology is about to make it even harder.
I’m talking about the meat industry. They’re motivated by profit and taking us in the complete wrong direction.
Their latest brainchild is 3D bioprinting of meat — a process in which a “meat ink” is created and made into an edible structure with the same texture, taste and shape of real meat.
Think about it next time you go to the supermarket… soon you’ll be trying to figure out which are the fake steaks, fraudulent lamb chops and “cheater” chicken wings.
The world’s largest meat processors — Tyson, Smithfield and Nestlé — are already gearing up to flood the market with their own “fake foods” created on 3D bioprinters.1 In July, fast food giant KFC revealed plans to roll out a new kind of “craft meat” — 3D bio-printed chicken nuggets — in Russia this fall.2
Make no mistake, it’s inevitable that we’ll face this next major food dilemma. It’s the future of food in America.
They’re already kicking up the propaganda machine calling it “craft meat” to make it sound local and hand-crafted. But don’t be fooled, these laboratory-created products have nothing to do with the kind of nutrient-rich meat nature intended you to eat.
The meat sold in supermarkets and restaurants are already heavily processed from animals raised to be sickly and fat on industrial factory farms. Thanks to corporate control of our food supply, almost every person in America is now deficient in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients your body needs to thrive putting you at risk of dozens of diseases.3
3D bioprinting is about to make that problem worse.
Once a multi-layered digital model of a food shape is created, “meat ink” is developed from the cells of plants and discarded meat scraps, as well as chemical additives. Then it’s loaded into a cartridge — just like a paper printer — and “printed out.” It doesn’t sound very appetizing.
And here’s the problem: Your nutritional needs have been shaped by evolution over hundreds of thousands of years, and can only be met by eating whole, natural foods.
There’s much more to meat than just fat, protein and water. Natural meats contain amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, coenzymes and trace elements. As well as microbial flora and fauna which work together to maintain the health of various parts of your body.
The technology does not yet exist to replicate this natural process. Instead, you get food that’s even less nutritious than the current output from industrial feedlots and poultry farms — and the negative health consequences that will follow.
Get Your Nutrients From Real Food
Here are a few tips to help you get the nutrients you need from the right kind of “real” food:
- First, don’t feed the beast. It’s easier said than done, but don’t eat industrial meat. The best way to not eat this processed food is to replace it with nutrition-rich, unprocessed organic food.
- Second, eat locally. Farmers markets are a great place to start. Get to know your local farmer and the practices they use to grow your food. Check out www.Eatwild.com, a national directory of pasture-based livestock producers, and find one in your area you can reply on.
- Third, invest in “beyond organic.” Take the money you were saving up for something you don’t really need and invest it in your community and its great farms. Many of them are desperately struggling for sales and patrons. You’ll be doing your health — and your local family farms — a favor.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Zimberoff L. “Fake-meat startups rake in cash amid food supply worries.” Bloomberg Finance News. May 1, 2020.
2. Jiang I. “KFC will test lab-grown chicken nuggets made with a 3D bioprinter this fall in Russia.” Business Insider. July 20, 2020.
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture. ChooseMyPlate. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020.