Cultivated Dinosaur Meat

Is It Just Strange Enough to Succeed?

Dinosaur meat on store shelves in Europe? The Food Navigator title caught my eye a few weeks back, just like I imagine this article title made you pause. “Product quality is better when it’s chilled only,” said the article, and “has been in secret development for years.” 

Did I mention the article was uploaded at 11:00 pm on March 31st? 

A well played April Fools prank, but also one that got me thinking. Jurassic jerky grown in a lab might not be on our grocery lists this week, but plenty of the items we do write down did originate in a lab. Dinosaur meat isn’t a completely crazy idea in light of food tech innovations and current food formulation undertakings, but as an agricultural economist I have to ask, would it sell? 

Snacks these days come in pre packaged containers rather than straight out of the ground or off the tree. The food industry is a highly competitive world of lab creations that boasts the most flavorful, the crunchiest, the creamiest and the most aesthetically pleasing creations to choose from. Each a formulation; chemistry experiments that manipulate raw nutrient sources combined with synthetic additives under varying conditions to produce a satisfying eating experience for consumers. If we really could extract dinosaur DNA and use it to cultivate a food product it would be one more ingredient for food companies to manipulate into snacks.  So, what would it take to get dino delicacies on the shelves and how might they measure up against the competition?

Cultivating Competition

Funding for alternative proteins and cultivated meats has reached $250 billion with over 10,000 agri food tech companies pursuing alternative ways of producing nutrient dense food options. Despite achieving successes in cultivating ground meats, sausages and even chicken nuggets the sector has bottomed out over the last two years, failing to produce options on a scale that could disrupt current food systems. 

Unlike the snacks sourced from raw materials, cultured products have faced unique challenges and cultivated dinosaur meat would face the uphill battle of securing funding for media, equipment, infrastructure and market development. From the cost of bioreactors themselves, to the energy and resources used in feeding cultures and operating clean rooms, to the slow rate of food production and relatively small contribution to food security, growing cells in a lab to create food products is expensive. No one has yet to scale production and keep it profitable. Mind you, current research is only attempting to recreate meat from species that still exist. Sourcing dinosaur meat could be an entirely new expense.

A Market For Dinosaur Meat

Securing a market of consumers anxious to buy Dino bites could go one of two ways. Today’s cultivated products have struggled to find the right group of buyers. Because it has been so costly to operate at scale, the protein source intended to bring nutrient dense meals in close proximity to poverty stricken regions has become a high end menu item instead. On a whole, cultivated meat hasn’t outpaced traditional agricultural practices when it comes to sustainability; another goal of the 10,000 companies aiming to build long term food solutions.

Vegetarians and vegans who care about animal welfare but still have no intention of eating animal protein haven’t been quick to adopt the cultivated option.  Meanwhile, carnivores are perfectly content to carry on purchasing protein sources from living breathing animals. Until cultivated meat production is scalable and products are available at lower prices, consumers have little incentive to switch to fully lab grown options.

In contrast to cultivated chicken tenders or sausage links, dinosaur meat could be considered exotic.  “The most exotic meat in the world,” as the Food Nation article put it.  Consumers expect to pay more for something they can’t get regularly.  Finding dinosaur meat while on vacation at a fancy restaurant, or at a museum or theme park might help the ancient protein reinstall itself into modern day society. In fact, seven year old boys begging their parents to put Jurassic jerky in their lunch boxes might be the very thing that prompts consumers to reassess the value of cultivated protein.  

We’re pretty comfortable with the fact that a high percentage of grocery store items are lab creations but not warmed up to the idea of fully lab grown food. If we could make the Twix bar or the Jack Links in our own kitchens, maybe we would. Since we can't, most of us leave that to food scientists. But dinosaur meat might be entirely different. If given the chance, would you pay to say you’ve eaten the most extinct, I mean exotic, meat in the world?