In the fall of 2018, a few weeks after I interviewed Tyson Foods’ Tom Hayes, he suddenly and unexpectedly resigned as CEO. The official word was that he did so for “personal reasons,” but I had a hard time believing it. The broader meat industry was in turmoil because of oversupply and trade wars with China, Tyson stock was declining, and I had to wonder if the company’s shareholders saw Hayes as a man with a premature, or at least a poorly timed, vision.

THE FATE OF FOOD by Amanda Little Harmony Books, 321 pp., $36.00

Yet among the dozens of people I interviewed about the future of meat, it was Hayes who made the timeliest and most convincing case for meat alternatives—and cellular meats in particular.



He emphasized that the entire “cell-to-fork” process for growing and harvesting lab meats is two to six weeks—a blink of an eye compared with the two and a half years it typically takes to grow cattle from conception to maturity. That represents huge cost and energy savings. Hayes also pointed out that cultured meats eliminate concerns about E. coli and other pathogens that can contaminate animal meat during processing. The single biggest risk in his business, he said, is contamination. A few months after Cargill invested in cell-based meat producer Memphis Meats, it recalled 130,000 pounds of ground beef that had been contaminated with E. coli—a problem that wouldn’t happen with lab-grown meat.

Memphis Meats CEO Uma Valeti describes a test performed in which scientists observed the rate of decay of conventional meats, organic meats, and lab-based meats: left at room temperature, the conventional meats were completely spoiled in less than 48 hours; after four days, the lab-grown meats had barely decomposed because there was no trace of bacteria. Hayes made the case that cultured meats can be produced anywhere—most likely, in facilities near city centers—so they won’t have to be transported long distances in refrigerated trucks. For that matter, they’ll need less refrigeration because they’re less prone to spoilage.

Hayes also stressed the potential human health benefits. Lab meats can have the beneficial nutrients of meat—iron, vitamin B12, selenium, niacin, and so forth—while also cutting down on the bad stuff, namely the cholesterol and fat content, by integrating only as much as is needed for flavor. Valeti says that for patients at risk of heart disease, he could conceivably make a beef product with good fats—beneficial omega-3 oils, for example—instead of saturated fats.