Egypt plans to grow meat | Gulf newspaper

Cairo: «The Gulf»

Egypt has begun serious studies of the possibility of cultivating meat in the country, as it is one of the scientific ways to confront the crisis, in light of the continuous rise in red meat prices, and the high prices of feed and other production requirements.

d said. Ahmed Galal, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Ain Shams University in Cairo, said that the idea of ​​cultivating meat began in the eighties of the last century, and continued to be tested, until a Dutch scientist succeeded in producing the first laboratory-made burger, indicating that the experiment is feasible, but it faces high production costs, which The establishment of laboratories, laboratories and tools for research teams.

The production of meat according to the culture method is based on the idea of ​​stem cells, which are found in all living organisms, where a group of stem cells are taken from the embryonic stage with a specific technique, and converted into gene cells, before a part of them is taken, and what is called the development process is applied to them. To form the trillions of cells that are placed in the bioreactor, to undergo a proliferation process to form tissues, which are assembled with certain techniques, ending up in the production of a piece of meat.

d said. Ashraf Al-Fayyad, a professor of agricultural economics at the Desert Research Institute of the Agricultural Research Center, said that Egypt will be able to take this step, but after completing the feasibility studies for the project, in addition to many experiments, studies and research, in order to ensure that it does not pose any harm to the health of the country. Citizens.

Egypt’s production of red meat covers less than 60% of its needs, which causes a production deficit of about 40%, which is imported from abroad. Many livestock breeders attribute the reasons for the high prices of red meat to several reasons, foremost of which is the demand Al-Kabeer is forced to buy red meat as a primary source of protein, in light of the increase in the population of more than 105 million people. Egypt’s wealth of red meat is approximately 8 million heads of cattle, in addition to about two million and 900 thousand heads of sheep, goats and camels.