Ethics of meat alternatives

Meat production involves a range of harms to animals and the environment. There is thus a good case to move away from meat production in our food system. However, people value meat, and this gives us both principled and pragmatic reasons to pursue food systems without the animal farming of today's food system, but which still incorporate meat (or meat-like products). However, meat alternatives also raise ethical questions. After exploring the case for adopting meat alternatives (relative to both a system incorporating slaughter-based meat and a fully plant-based system), this chapter reviews some of the ethical challenges raised by three possible meat alternatives: Plant-based meat, cultivated meat, and insects.