World's first lab-grown meat facility pumps out 5,000 burgers per day

Israel is now home to the world's first lab-grown meat production facility, a plant that is able to produce the equivalent of up to 5,000 burgers every single day. Called Future Meat Technologies, the company has ushered in the era of industrial-tier cultured meat production — and it's already eyeing a big expansion into the US.

Future Meat Technologies announced its industrial cultured meat facility on June 23, stating that it is capable of producing up to 1,100lbs of lab-grown meat every day. That's equal to around 5,000 hamburgers, according to Future Meat, which explains that the plant is a key aspect of bringing its business to market.

Assuming everything goes as planned, the company plans to start selling its cultured meat products next year, offering consumers an alternative to traditional meat products that result from raising and slaughtering livestock.

At this point, the facility is already able to produce lamb, chicken, and pork products without using genetic modification or animal serum. Future Meat says that it will soon also be able to start production on beef, too. The industrial cultured meat facility can produce these products around 20 times faster than the rate of the product acquired from traditional animal livestock.

A key benefit of cultured meat is its minimized impact on the environment. Future Meat Technologies says this facility requires 96-percent less freshwater than livestock production, as well as using 99-percent less land and producing 80-percent fewer greenhouse emissions.