Growing meat without growing animals

Brave new world, here we come...

Sounds like a mix between the movie Soylent Green and those stories about the grey aliens and their vats under Dulce, NM

As a prior post pointed out, how do you get "meat" from a petri dish to exercise and develop muscle? Shock it with electrodes?

I have a feeling we'll be hearing about GM cattle next, big as minivans and grown in slings in hangars, the setup looking like some sci-fi pod nursery...

But is it safe? Every time I hear the word 'scientist' used in conjunction with the word 'nutrition' I can't help but think - Monsanto. Are we sure this won't end up genetically mutating? I would need real assurances that this is 'exactly' meat and not some petrochemical-based pseudo-meat-like version.

reply to post by FRIGHTENER
It's a computer game, and you can get copies off eBay or at used game stores for practically nothing.

Mike has it right. It'd be a gelatinous mess and probably bland in taste. The flavor meat has comes from the animal's diet, and the marbling in it. I'll stick to real meat.

[edit on 4/24/08 by LLoyd45]

I'm just disturbed by all the "if it stops the suffering on animals, I'm all for it" nonsense in this thread. As this nation progressed through the industrial age, past the agricultural and survivalist eras, our populace has lost their guts and their backbones. I grew up on a ranch where I was helping slaughter and process livestock from a very young age. I took hunter's safety when I was 7 and shot my first deer that fall. I watched through high school as "us rural kids" became a scarcer breed and then in college as I was clearly a dinosaur. I've seen the films of cattle stumbling and then being hoisted up by a forklift while some stuffed suit uses fear tactics to try and scare people into not eating meat (for the record, most of the supposed "mad cow" footage we've been shown to try and frighten us isn't from mad cow disease at all. A cow with bovine encephalitis doesn't drag int's hindquarters behind it and keep falling to it's knees everytime it tries to stand up. That footage was of cattle with spinal cord injuries, probably collected when they accidentally fell off the side of the truck ramp as they were unloading them thanks to somebody being careless and not bothering to put up the side gates on the ramp or not backing the truck fully into the stall. The cow fell off the ramp, landed on it's head and effectively broke it's neck, followed up by video footage of it dragging its hind legs around trying to stand up.)

For those who don't know squat about the animals they eat, allow me to share some little known facts. Cattle are dumb, very dumb. A cow is one of the few animals that will actually drown itself in a rain storm by either holding its head directly upward and basically inhaling rain water or through clumsily walking right out into the middle of a lake or river, apparently not realizing the deepening water around them isn't being caused by the rain. Cattle will also walk in a circle in a corral that's full of mud tightening the circle as they mindlessly walk until they're crushing and trampling the ones on the inside of the circle. They also don't feel pain like humans do, proven by the fact that they will gore themselves on a bent fencepost while scratching an itch until they have a massive wound on their side, eat pieces of wire, glass, and metal objects even though they're bleeding from the mouth and tongue, and sometimes eat cactus until their mouths are so full of needles they can no longer eat anything and die from starvation.

Don't even get me started on the lack of brains in chickens and other poultry, please.

I'm not advocating animal cruelty here, just stating some facts. I actually believe that a man who isn't willing to slaughter their own dinner isn't worthy of eating meat, anyway, to be honest. So by all means, all the vegetarians and bleeding hearts out there, feel free to eat any artificial meats you wish and wolf down those veggies! But until you've actually worked the line in a processing plant or, better yet, spent a weekend butchering hogs on a family ranch or shot and field dressed an elk, deer, bear, or antelope, don't make uneducated statements about the way their treated and how they suffer.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Yeah, and Humans do some equally idiotic things too. Should we continue to allow the slaughter of anyone who does something "stupid".

Cattle are very intelligent. You can teach them tricks the same way that you can a dog and you can name them and they will respond. Just because there are a few flaws in their nature doesn't mean the justification for slaughter is there.

Most cattle are also neglected and dumbed down. Put a pack of dogs in your back yard and sprinkle food on the ground, keep them inside of an electrified barbed wire fence and treat them like they're stupid. Use something scary to herd them up and don't forget to stick scorching hot metal into their sides, then cut their testicles off while they're awake... please do this experiment and tell me how smart those dogs turn out.

Relative to the intellect and megalomaniacal judgements of Humans all animals have some "stupid" tendancies, even us.

[edit on 24-4-2008 by LastOutfiniteVoiceEternal]

I have to side with Burdman on this issue. Most livestock animals are pretty stupid, and extremely dangerous under the right circumstances. A bull won't think twice about trampling or knocking you into next week if you invade his territory or harem. Have you ever got head butted by one of these buggers? It hurts!

Chickens will peck weaker or injured chickens to death, then cannabilize their remains. Roosters will gang rape a hen to death if allowed too, then trample her to death. Chickens are not simple herbivores, they like flesh too, and they'll try to claw and peck your eyes out if you're not careful. Don't think chick, think compy-like dinosaur with wings.

A hog will eat practically anything that doesn't eat it first. They love flesh, and the scent of blood drives them crazy. If you're bleeding and fall down in their pen, you're done for. Even a simple bite hurts like heck and can easily cause a nasty wound.

Despite all this, I still believe they're entitled to a humane death. Killing them quickly and painlessly is also safer. There's nothing worse to deal with than a badly shot cow or hog. Not only do they suffer, but it makes twice the work for you.

If you've never been around a working farm, try it some time. I'll bet you'll have a whole new perspective on the matter.

reply to post by LLoyd45


In all seriousness, all the things you just named... Humans do most if not all of them as well. Think about it. And if you had horns and didn't wanna be bothered or pinned up... wouldn't you use them? Okay, I'm out.

I do think that eating lab grown meat could prove to be very important and efficient one day. The meat could be genetically altered to be even more healthy than livestock's.

Originally posted by LastOutfiniteVoiceEternal
In all seriousness, all the things you just named... Humans do most if not all of them as well. Think about it. And if you had horns and didn't wanna be bothered or pinned up... wouldn't you use them?

Okay, I'm out.

You're right, humans will do these things and worse under the right set of conditions.

We are nothing more than sentient, thinking animals. That's what makes us more violent and brutal than any tiger or lion ever could be. We have the capacity for cruelty, which they fortunately don't possess.

As for eating humans, I'm not much for long pig, but there may come a day when people may resort to it out of desperation and pure unadulterated hunger. Self-preservation is a powerful instinct in our species.

By the way guys.. Plants are living things as well. How do you know they don't suffer or feel pain when you ripped them out of their nurturing soil, then slice and tear them into bit-size pieces? Think about it.

Hmmm...
Meat grown in a lab?
No thank you!

I hate to think of animals suffering, but I do like to eat meat. It offers all kinds of nutrients for the human body.

When I think of more of our food being "grown" in a lab, it frustrates me. Think of all the chemicals that are in our food now. Those came from a lab, and they definitely are not good for us. I don't want to eat anymore chemicals! I want real food, and that includes vegetables without chemicals, too.

Oh, sure, the FDA may say its fine, but I have lost faith in them. Just because they say something is good for us does not make it so.

So, what are the raw materials for "vat meat"?

If they are plant material, you have to know it would only be a matter of time before the "bread is murder" crowd shows up with their videos "proving" that plants have feelings, too.

PETA would simply become PETP.

BTW, PETA can also = People Eating Tasty Animals

Seriously, if people can't eat meat or plants, what's left but mass starvation and depopulation of the planet?

And now you know the true agenda of these people.



[edit on 4/24/2008 by centurion1211]

This is ridiculous. If it's meat, it IS ALIVE!!! Just because it is not the whole animal does not mean it is not alive. Individual cells are alive as much as the complete organism is. Plants are alive too. So either eat or don't eat, but unless you eat rocks you are taking the life of another creature.

Since I don't eat rocks, I might as well eat animals too. Don't worry, I won't discriminate. I will eat cute and ugly animals equally, especially if they taste good.

reply to post by bkcrt


Uh, your still killing things when you eat rocks or dirt too. Don't forget all those nice yummy single celled lifeforms and other microscopic critters.

Heck I'm pretty sure when we breathe we even kill things.

reply to post by LLoyd45


Bet it would have Petri Dish aftertaste.... eww....

Meat is good based on -- what the animal was fed, whether it was free range or not, how muscular the animal was..

A nice healthy pig, makes for some good meat. A Pig fed pig while locked in a box is.... McDonalds food (did you know fast food "steak" and "chicken" are rated by the FDA to be ONE quality degree higher then DOG FOOD?"

I heard a rumor that this was already being done by KFC. In fact, that's supposedly why they had to change their name from Kentucky Fried Chicken, since it's not actually chicken. Just a chicken-like substance that is never actually alive. Hydroponic chicken perhaps?

This would prove useful if it will have all the nutritional content of real meat. It wouldn't hurt to have it on deep space missions as the high protein content is needed which would not be practical to substitute from plant sources, and B12 which is virtually impossible to absorb in sufficient amounts from anything other than meat. But myself here on earth, sorry... I like my meat to be real, formerly living. Preferably with a face, and cute cuddly eyes.

reply to post by apc


The deterioration of nutrition in our food has become a very serious problem that most people simply are not aware of. And this extends to meat as well. Not only in the processing, but in how the animal is fed, raised, and genetically modified.

"Let them eat cake!"

I think vat-grown meat is going to become a big thing in the future.

I've been poring over global sustainability figures in regards to foodstocks and the outlook is grim. A study released last week said that there will be an 85% increase in demand for dairy and meat within the next 20 years.

We need nothing short of a global agricultural revolution. Vat grown meat is going to be big when it becomes just profitable enough.

I was reading on this in the Toronto Sun.

I'm actually all for it. I've been wondering for some time now if it is possible to grow meat artificially, without it possessing a brain to be tortured.

If we can do this, then we really can start looking toward working along side nature... eventually.

It will take some time for the hard-liners to finally either die off or switch to fake meat.

We will need a regulatory practice in place that ensures nobody can be bought out though.

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Your right! My bad!

While watching shows like StarTrek Ive often wondered how they could be eating meats, I figured it was some sort of synthetic. I am not sure I could do it, even some veggie burgers gross me out. I HATE the Slauter industry most of all in this world.