This article is part of my FAQs series.
For well over a decade, I have been answering anonymously submitted questions on my Tumblr blog. Over that time, I have noticed many recurring themes, concerns, and misunderstandings.
This series brings together concise, practical responses to the questions I am asked most often, based on real conversations with people at every stage of thinking about veganism.
If you’d like to see more entries in this series, you can find them here.
The Short Answer
At present, no.
Lab-grown meat still relies on animals for cells, growth media, and testing. This means it involves ongoing animal use and exploitation, so it does not meet the definition of veganism. While it may reduce harm compared to conventional meat, it is not currently a vegan product.
The Detail
What Lab-Grown Meat Is
Lab-grown meat (also called cultured or “clean” meat) is produced by growing animal cells in controlled laboratory conditions.
Instead of raising and slaughtering whole animals, producers take a small sample of cells and encourage them to multiply into muscle tissue. In theory, this could produce “real” meat at scale, without large-scale farming. This has led many people to ask whether it might be compatible with vegan ethics.
Why It Is Not Currently Vegan
At present, lab-grown meat depends on animals in several ways.
1) Cell Extraction
To begin production, companies need living animal cells.
These are usually obtained through biopsies from cows, chickens, pigs, or fish. Biopsies are invasive procedures and cause stress and discomfort. Most companies still rely on a small population of “donor” animals for this purpose.
This means animals are kept specifically to supply the industry, which is exploitative.
2. Growth Materials
Cultured cells must be fed in order to grow.
Traditionally, this has involved foetal bovine serum, which is taken from the blood of unborn calves during slaughter. Although companies are working on alternatives, animal-derived serum is still widely used in development.
Even when plant-based growth materials are used, the research and testing stages have relied heavily on animal products.
3. Animal Testing
Like most new food technologies, lab-grown meat has involved extensive animal testing. This includes toxicity testing, nutritional testing, and safety trials.
These procedures also rely on animal use. Taken together, these factors mean that cultured meat currently depends on ongoing animal exploitation.
Under standard definitions of veganism, that makes it non-vegan.
Could It Become Vegan in the Future?
In theory, some companies hope to develop:
- Fully animal-free growth materials
- Cell lines that do not require repeated biopsies
- Reduced or eliminated animal testing
If all of these goals were achieved, lab-grown meat might no longer depend directly on animals. However, there is currently no clear timeline for this, and it is unclear as to whether this could ever be done at scale.
Most experts agree that some form of animal involvement is likely to remain necessary for the foreseeable future. For now, cultured meat is best understood as “less harmful” rather than “animal-free.”
Environmental and Efficiency Concerns
One of the main arguments in favour of lab-grown meat is environmental. Compared to conventional livestock farming, it may:
- Use less land
- Produce fewer emissions
- Reduce water pollution
- Lower deforestation
These are significant potential benefits. However, even optimistic studies suggest that cultured meat is still more resource-intensive than eating plants directly. It requires energy intensive laboratories, complex infastructure, and specialised growth materials.
Producing protein this way is far less efficient than growing legumes, grains, and vegetables. It is also likely to be far less efficient or sustainable than other emerging technologise, such as microbial-based proteins. Some leading researchers in the field have openly stated that plant-based diets remain the most sustainable option.
Why Some Vegans Are Cautiously Supportive
Although lab-grown meat is not vegan, some vegans see it as a potential harm-reduction tool. If widely adopted, it could:
- Reduce demand for factory farming
- Significantly lower the number of animals bred into existence
- Decrease environmental damage
- Appeal to people unwilling to eat plant-based foods
- Provide suitable proteins for use in pet food
From this perspective, it will be better than conventional meat, both in ethical and environmental terms. Others worry that it will keep animals central to food systems, and reiforce the idea that meat is in somewhat “necessary.” There is also concern that this will divert funding away from plant-based and microbial innovations, while delaying the cultural shifts necessary for us to see plant-based diets adopted at scale.
These are reasonable concerns, and there is no single “vegan position” on this question.
The Role of Plant-Based Alternatives
It is also important to note that we already have alternatives to meat that:
- Are fully vegan
- Are commercially available
- Are affordable
- Require no animal use
- Are highly sustainable
Plant-based proteins can meet human nutritional needs efficiently and cheaply. Many vegans question why so much funding goes into recreating meat rather than improving access to plant-based foods.
From an animal rights perspective, changing eating habits remains the most direct solution for the harms caused by animal agriculture.
Ethics Vs. Pragmatism
The debate around cultured meat often reflects a broader tension:
- Ethical purity versus harm reduction
- Structural change versus technological fixes
- Animal liberation versus incremental reform
Some people see lab-grown meat as a pragmatic step toward reducing suffering – this is where I land in the debate. Others see it as a distraction from deeper moral change. These are both legitimate responses to lab-grown meat, and it is an issue that is likely to prove divisive in our community once the technology becomes widely available.
Suggested Reading
- George Monbiot – Regenesis: Feeding The World Without Devouring The Planet. A well-researched examination of emerging food technologies, with a focus on environmental impact and food security. Monbiot is an excellent writer and his books are very approachable – I would thoroughly recommend checking him out.
- Linkun Han – Life Cycle Assessment of Cultured Meat: Environmental Impacts from Production to Consumption. 2025 paper assessing the environmental impact of cultured meat.
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