The average British person eats around 80kg of meat a year. The government recommend that you should eat 70g of meat a day, which is 26kg a year. Meaning we are eating 200% more than is actually being recommended. Not only is this having a bad effect on our health because of the quantity we consume and the quality of the meat, it also has a massive strain on the farming industry and the environment. The British farming industry has to support the massive demand, with it producing 885.5 metric tons of meat a year. Meat is at the heart of British cuisine, with 1 in 2 birth people saying ‘a meal isn’t a meal without meat’, however, many livestock farmers know that the process is not as simple as it looks and getting meat from farms to your plate is a complicated plan. Farmers have to maximise production in order to find the best way to produce the best quality, yet cheapest meat. 

 

Farmers have been selectively breeding for the longest time now, not only animals but also plants. Take the parents with the wanted offspring breed them together. Then repeat the process with the offspring until you have the perfect animal. This is done with cows to make them as big as possible to produce more meat from one animal. In plants the process is similar, although its not always perfect and can take a lot of time and resources. But there’s a more neat direct method of producing the perfect produce, GMO’s.

 

Genetically modified organisms, simply have DNA from a different organism placed into them to make them “better”. For instance spider goats, goats that have gene that spiders use to make silk in their genome. This amazing scientific advancements means that we can theoretically manufacture any range of organisms. But where do we draw the line?

 

It’s already agreed that we should not genetically modify humans, for every cell in the body to contain this gene it must be done when the organism is an embryo before the cells differentiate, this means that the person would not be able to consent to be genetically modified and since the process has not be 100% successful it could lead to many unknown complications. However, it is one of the most extraordinary advancements in science to date, it has ability to change lives. Researchers in Edinburgh have genetically modified pigs that are immune to PRRS, meaning more of the stock will survive.

 

So why don’t we genetically modify animals, to maximise profits and meat quality?

 

The EU has little to no tolerance for gene-edited plants, and much less when it came to animals, because these products are untested and editing one gene can have a detrimental effect on any other part of the organism. Since the UK left the EU there is an opportunity to develop new laws to allow farmers to sell GMO produce. Animal rights and welfare also come into question, because some of the changes made, mean that the animals lives are quite miserable and short lived, for many people this is a problem as they like to know that their meat it ethically sourced. 

 

The government will be reviewing the policies put in place and deciding whether to ease restrictions or not, which means that GMO research will increase exponentially. With the unrest within the field, many experts advice that the public should be involved in the decisions to come. But do people really care that much about what they eat, only 11% of the population is vegetarian and 2% are vegan. There are also other ways of mass producing cheap meat, which is prominent in the fast food industry. So what difference will the new rules really make?