MEAT THE FUTURE a film by Liz Marshall
Meat the Future - Where's the Beef?
With the recent news of the Cargill plant in Calgary having to close because of Coronavirus infected workers it shows how vulnerable our food industry is. It is predicted that by 2050 we will not have enough food to feed the world so we need to figure out a solution for people to survive in the future.
This film is very eye-opening and thought provoking. I found I had conflicted feelings of balancing the genetic creation of food and the current practice of food production. I understand that there are inhumane food production practices because of the demand for beef and chicken, but I am also afraid of some of these new techniques because it opens the door for people to market food that nobody knows what will be in it or how it will affect health. I see the plant based craze for Beyond the Meat that still has stabilization chemicals in it but avoids the beef processing system so it solves people's animal rights issues and hopefully people understand that it's not a 100% health food.
This film will leave you thinking well past viewing this documentary and will have you thinking about it everytime you head to your grocery store to do your weekly shopping.
Birth of an industry
An official Planet in Focus 2020 selection
See Meat The Future at Planet in Focus on on Wed, Oct 14, 2020 12:00pm EST
(Virtual) More details here.
Award-winning The Ghosts in Our Machine director Liz Marshall returns with a new eye opening documentary about the future of meat.
Meat the Future, a story of the future of feeding the planet with a new innovation of cell-based meat.
The goal is to innovate and produce real meat without slaughtering animals and without environmental destruction.
Currently we can see the results of food production during a pandemic with Beef Producers in Calgary and in the U.S. having shut down because of staff illness.
Animal agriculture dominates nearly half of the world’s land surface, producing more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation. The prospect of meat consumption doubling by 2050 is not only sobering, it is a wake-up call for solutions. Compared to conventionally-produced beef, cell-based beef is estimated, at scale, to reduce land use by more than 95%, climate change emissions by 74% to 87%, and nutrient pollution by 94%.
While plant-based eating is on the rise, a mass conversion to vegetarianism is unlikely. So, the planet’s future may lie with cell-based meat, also known as “clean meat” and “cultivated meat”, a scientific process of growing animal cells to harvest real poultry, beef, pork, fish and seafood.
Meat the Future follows the genesis phase of the clean meat movement in America, behind the scenes with its pioneers – they are activists, scientists, researchers, marketers and policy experts, all focused on the goal of an ethical, sustainable and profitable food future.
Meat the Future is seen through the experience of Mayo Clinic-trained cardiologist Dr. Uma Valeti, the co-founder and CEO of start-up company Memphis Meats. Valeti and his team are at the forefront of an industry, they have attracted worldwide interest and investment from the likes of billionaire influencers Bill Gates and Richard Branson and from food giant corporations Tyson and Cargill, and others.
The founders have to navigate the process of the complicated regulatory processes in Washington, D.C. There, ranchers, farmers, and conventional meat lobby groups fight to protect their recognized brand of meat and beef “harvested in the traditional manner,” while representatives from the cellular agricultural community work to define a clear regulatory framework, urging America to be first to market.
You will salivate as you watch top-ranked chefs perform their magic on the meat-of-the-future.
Produced in association with documentary Channel, the Canada Media Fund and
the Redford Center Grants with funding provided by the New York Community Trust.
Produced with the participation of the Rogers Cable Network Fund.
Writer-Director-Producer: Liz Marshall
the Redford Center Grants with funding provided by the New York Community Trust.
Produced with the participation of the Rogers Cable Network Fund.
Writer-Director-Producer: Liz Marshall
Executive Producers: Janice Dawe, Chris Hegedus
Associate Producer: Jessica Jennings
Editors: Caroline Christie, Roland Schlimme
Cinematographer: John Price
Music Composer: Igor Correia
