Because this is a trend, a trend.

Why is this move by Burger King so important?

Because this marks a possible turning point for artificial meat technology, which may enter the stage of large-scale commercialization.

Artificial meat burger technology was selected as one of the top ten breakthrough technologies of the year by MIT Technology Review in 2018.

Why is this technology so important?

One reason is that humans' meat-eating habits lead to the production of meat products occupying a large amount of environmental resources.

Specifically, greenhouse gas emissions caused by human-raised livestock account for about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A quarter of the land on Earth that is not covered by ice is used for grazing livestock.

One-third of the farmland is used to grow plant feed for livestock.

Moreover, we must also take into account the increase in the world's population and the improvement in the quality of life of more and more people.

Meat production consumes more resources than food production.

MIT Technology Review says that, depending on the animal species, producing a pound of meat protein through industrial methods uses 4 to 25 times more water, 6 to 17 times more land, and 6 to 17 times more land than producing the same amount of plant protein.

6 to 20 times more fossil fuels.

In addition, from a business perspective, some technology entrepreneurs believe that feeding cattle plants and then converting them into meat is too inefficient.

From a health perspective, current artificial meat burgers have 15% less fat and 90% less cholesterol than beef burgers.

Therefore, artificial meat has always been an important technology in the food field.

Let’s take a look at humanity’s exploration of artificial meat burger technology.

In 2013, the world’s first artificial meat burger appeared.

During the press conference, the artificial meat burger was eaten on the spot.

The person who funded the research was Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The production cost of this burger is as high as 330,000 US dollars, which is more than 2 million yuan.

The principle of this technology is to extract a small number of cells from the animal body, then culture them in the laboratory, nourish them with a special nutrient solution, and let them generate muscle tissue.

To put it simply, animal cells are grown directly into meat in the laboratory.

However, the two leading companies in the field of artificial meat today have adopted new technologies.

The names of these two companies are "Impossible Foods" and "Beyond Meat", which literally translates to "Impossible Food", referred to as IF, and "Beyond Meat", referred to as BM.

Among them, IF Company has received investment from big-name investors including Google, Bill Gates and Li Ka-shing.

The products are currently sold in more than 5,000 restaurants.

Instead of growing meat in the laboratory, new technology is now producing meat based on plants.

IF company uses heme produced by genetically modified yeast to make artificial meat burgers.

Heme gives meat its color and flavor.

BM uses pea protein to make ground beef.

BM's products are sold in chain stores including Whole Foods Market in the United States.

The artificial meat needed to make burgers is just minced meat.

So artificial meat is being produced all over the world.