WE HAVE a problem on our hands: over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled. And with it, we’ve seen serious environmental consequences.

In the words of the United Nations, the meat industry is one of the “most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”. Livestock accounts for approximately 14.5 per cent of all emissions – that’s more than all global travel combined.

A recent study from Oxford Martin School found that cutting down on meat consumption could save eight million lives by 2050, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds. But whilst the appetite for meat is decreasing in some of the heaviest consuming countries – including the USA, New Zealand and the UK – rapidly increasing demand in China and parts of Africa is likely to see overall meat consumption continue to rise.

So is it time to end our love affair with meat? Well, not necessarily. For those of us who couldn’t countenance a life without hamburgers and hotdogs, there may be another way. ‘Lab-grown’ meat could allow us to keep meat on our tables, without the devastating environmental cost.

The technique uses stem cells gathered from cow muscle tissue. Stem cells have the unique ability to develop into any kind of cell in the body, from blood cells to brain cells. In the laboratory, scientists can trigger stem cells to replicate, until they have enough to create muscle fibre and, eventually, a material similar to minced beef.

Sound icky? Well, the finished product – whilst not technically meat as we know it – reportedly looks, smells and tastes exactly like the real deal. In a 2013 taste test of lab-grown meat, food critics reported finding the meat almost indistinguishable from regular meat, if a little less juicy.

And it’s not just beef that’s getting the lab treatment. Stem cell techniques could also allow us to reproduce chicken meat, providing a substitute for another major source of global meat consumption. Experts estimate that lab-grown meat could become available in supermarkets within the next 3-4 years, and that a ‘lab burger’ could eventually cost the same or even cheaper than a regular one.

This is great news for the environment. According to Oxford University scientists, lab-grown meat produces 96 per cent less greenhouse-gas emissions, uses up to 99 per cent less land, 96 per cent less water, and 45 per cent less energy than conventional meat.

And the benefits aren’t just environmental. Disease is currently a huge problem in the meat industry. Infections such as salmonella and E. coli are rife in the crowded factories that house farm animals. To prevent the spread of disease, animals are fed huge amounts of antibiotics, and this practice helps infections to develop antibiotic resistance: a serious threat to human populations.

Many vegetarians and vegans could also rest easy eating lab-grown meat, in the knowledge that the practice is virtually cruelty free. Were the new meat to become viable on a global scale, then the brutalities of large-scale factory farming could eventually become a thing of the past.

Of course, lab-grown meat brings its own set of challenges. Many people may feel squeamish or anxious about consuming something that was grown in a laboratory rather than reared on a farm. And it will take time to bring down costs enough so that the new meat is readily available to most consumers.

But lab-grown meat has huge potential, and offers us a way out of the environmental, ethical and medical issues associated with the existing meat industry. Whilst it might not be to everyone’s tastes, this innovation could help us to create a better world and keep meat firmly on the menu.