Would you eat meat grown in a laboratory?

In a country as addicted to barbecues as Australia, the prospects for meat grown from cells in a laboratory don't see strong. But lab-grown beef, poultry, pork and fish may be part of an answer to climate change and animal welfare. says Uma Valeti, CEO of the US-based company behind the program, Memphis Meats. A report released in June by a consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, predicts that by 2040, cell-based meat will make up 35 percent of meat consumed worldwide. This cultured meat is produced by extracting cells from a donor animal and growing those cells into raw meat. Memphis Meats is one of a few pioneering firms in the area and have attracted some significant investors, including Richard Branson and Bill Gates. But Valeti - who trained as a cardiologist and started the company after seeing the power of stem cells to treat disease - admits they're far from mainstream. But he says as the population grows, and the production of meat by traditional methods becomes more problematical, the project is all about increasing choice.