WEF Urges ‘Cultural Revolution’ to Normalize Lab-Grown Meat Despite Public Resistance

Participants at last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos called for a decades-long “cultural revolution” to increase public acceptance of lab-grown meat, despite acknowledging strong consumer resistance to the products.

The remarks came during a panel titled “Food @ the Edge,” where speakers discussed replacing traditional foods with technology-driven alternatives. Andrea Illy, chairman of illycaffè and a longtime WEF affiliate, argued that consumer skepticism toward “tech foods” is a cultural obstacle that must be overcome. Illy claimed that animal-based proteins account for the majority of agriculture’s environmental footprint and asserted that reducing real meat consumption would improve public health.

Illy characterized meat consumption as a major driver of noncommunicable diseases in Western countries and said society must be guided toward lab-grown alternatives through long-term cultural change.

Those claims were challenged by several experts cited in reporting by Children’s Health Defense. Dr. Meryl Nass argued that declining meat consumption has coincided with rising obesity and diabetes rates, particularly among children, and pointed instead to highly processed carbohydrates as a key contributor to metabolic disease. Other experts emphasized that the problem lies less with meat itself and more with industrial food production methods that disconnect food from natural biological systems.

Concerns were also raised about the safety and structure of lab-grown meat. Scientists noted that many lab-grown products rely on immortalized cell lines, which may carry unknown long-term health risks. Others warned that such technologies centralize food production into patented, proprietary systems, displacing local farming and food sovereignty in favor of industrial dependency.

Alongside the discussion, the WEF promoted lab-grown meat as “revolutionary,” highlighting companies such as Singapore-based Shiok Meats, which produces meat from animal stem cells. Singapore has been a global leader in approving lab-grown foods, including insects for human consumption.

Read the full report at The Defender:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/wef-cultural-revolution-lab-grown-meat/