Meat grown in laboratory in world first

Scientists have managed to grow a form of meat in a laboratory for the first time, according to reports.

Researchers in the Netherlands created what was described as soggy pork and are now investigating ways to improve the muscle tissue in the hope that people will one day want to eat it.

No one has yet tasted their produce, but it is believed the artificial meat could be on sale within five years.

Vegetarian groups welcomed the news, saying there was “no ethical objection” if meat was not a piece of a dead animal.

Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University, told The Sunday Times: “What we have at the moment is rather like wasted muscle tissue. We need to find ways of improving it by training it and stretching it, but we will get there.

Telegraph

Cool post... I read a post yesterday similar but completely different. You may be interested in this LINK thread from yesterday. This is very significant to vegetarians and the link I put there could one day become the staple of food consumption for farm animals as well as humans... Just an idea.

LifENcircleS

News release(buried 50 pages in the smallest font possible) in a major US newspaper Mar. 17 2012.

Meat paste developed in a lab has been found to be safe by the FDA today. To ensure its purchase they have decided that real meat cannot advertise that it is real meat.

Just like the FDA has made it illegal to advertise that food that is not GM cannot state that is not GM.

I fear for our future, can anyone say-

SOYLENT GREEN-its people!

this is great news.. just the USA alone butchers 1,000,000 chickens per hour! Cultured meat is a better method all around and I hope to see it take off in about 5yrs.

[edit on 30-11-2009 by reasonable]

so long as the total energy required to produce this substance is less than is needed to 'produce' animal meat then i guess this could prove a positive step forward for people who want to eat it.

I'm happy with vegetables for now.

As long as this process isn't corrupted by corporations when and if it hits mass production... then this will revolutionize the world. I am serious...soooooo many health and ethical issues associated with the food industry (especially meat).

For those in the USA: Imagine not needing 30% of the US land mass to grow corn (much of it is to feed food animals). Imagine not needing to use an obscene amount of US land to raise an obscene amount of food animals in factory farms. Imagine...not having to slaughter thousands of them every day. No more consuming rat poop, growth hormone and antibiotics...

[edit on 30-11-2009 by silver tongue devil]

Sorry to go a bit off topic but this reminds me of a manga (Japanese comic) I read:

"Bio-Meat Nectar" was the name. It's unlicensed in US, so you can find it online with some searching. I can't remember exactly how gory it was, but I know those who dislike blood probably shouldn't read it.

Summary: Tokyo is facing both starvation and running out of room for trash. What was developed was a bio-engineered animal which mindlessly consumes almost anything, garbage included. They eat a lot of refuse, plump up, reproduce, and then are harvested. The general populace don't know exactly what Bio Meat is, it is sent already cut and wrapped, like any other meat product. Much safety must be taken when around the little critters, human meat is just as desirable to them.

Anyway, I understand the situation in the manga is much different, and I'm not saying this is what's happening. I just thought those who find this news interesting would also appreciate a story about something similar going horribly wrong.

On topic: So long as I can see how the meat is grown/processed eventually, I would more than likely give it a chance.

I don't agree with this type of science, I think we should be eatting natural foods. Who pays for all this research? Al gore must be proud i think his next investment should be tacobell.


Taco Bell's New Fake Green Menu Takes No Ingredients From Nature





[edit on 1-12-2009 by SimpleKnowledge]

I was wondering when this would happen. I must say it has appealing aspects and really troubling aspects. I abhor the animal-source food industry and its cruel practices, but I love meat. Like many people, I have always been tormented by the thought of eating cute cuddly piglets, cows, chickens, etc., but I do it anyway. This new technology seems, on the surface, like a humane way to meet the need (or unnecessary desire, according to some) for meat protein in the human diet.

My first reaction was to be grossed out and freaked out; it seemed macabre and twisted to grow meat in a lab. But if you think of the alternative, of teh tremendous costs of housing and feeding food animals, of the huge waste of resources in raising meat, of the inhumane conditions food animals are kept in, of the horror of slaughterhouses and the like, then lab-grown meat seems *less* macabre and horrifying than the alternative.

The next issue is, then, nutrition. What is the source of nutrition for the muscle cells thus grown? Can we be sure meat grown this way is not missing anything a real animal protein source might contain? Will a slight difference in the chemistry of the proteins translate into some serious deficiency or excess in human nutrition?

reply to post by OuttaHere


Remember, it's living cells, specifically animal cells. Cell biology is very similar for all the mammals, and even birds and reptiles all the way to fish. Their cell chemistry works a specific way, because that's how they manage to live.

Basically, it would take an absurd amount of genetic changes to use any amino acids than the 20 standard amino acids used in life as we know it. And, since it's probably going to be muscle tissue that's cultured, it's going to be made of what muscle tissue is made out of. Even if the proteins are screwed around with, we don't digest proteins as whole units anyway. We break them down into amino acids, with which we build our own proteins.

If it doesn't contain proportionally sufficient amounts of every amino acid, that alone doesn't really make it any less healthy than pretty much any vegetable or fruit. It just means you can't live off that alone, and need a balanced and varied diet. Which is sound advice anyway, because there are other health risks associated with being a human carnivore. Even if it's super lean meat low in saturated fats and cholesterol, you still should get dietary fiber and other stuff that just isn't in animal products.

I'll hold off until they make it as ground beef that's cheaper than regular ground beef, or until they get it to actually have a texture that's anything like meat.

reply to post by mdiinican


Supposedly for the meat to have the same texture they grow it on big sheets that somehow simulate exercise hence stop it from going all mushy and chewy. In any case this is great news, like everything else a small percentage of folks will be turned off. But it is inevitable in the future with population rates rising and anything to end factory farming is a plus. Don't expect this to do much in regards to feeding people around the world though. We can already do that if we wish...but keeping much of the world poor and starving has it's benefits.

The implications are staggering.. all meats can be cultured. want whale meat? dinosaur meat, snow leopard meat? How about your own self for dinner? I'll take an order of komodo dragon nuggets please

reply to post by reasonable


Will be even better when the meat maker kitchen appliance comes out. Grow your own beef or pork in your own home...brilliant. Course i don't want to get too ahead of myself.

Mmm, laboratory meat paste washed down with a glass of Monsanto's hormonal milk - I'm salivating already.

reply to post by Solomons


By all means do!

Market demand

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
Mmm, laboratory meat paste washed down with a glass of Monsanto's hormonal milk - I'm salivating already.

I understand what your concern is, but I am concerned you are not already concerned about the integrity of our meat now.

absolutely.. you have 1,00,000 chickens killed per hour in the USA alone.. then that meat is basically dumped in chemicals and what-not, then stamped into nuggets.. then people come here saying "i want mah them thar meat to beh real, don'tun gimme none that thar other fake stuff!"

Damn onion blocked the video.


Everyone knows it's a joke WTH.

[edit on 8-12-2009 by SimpleKnowledge]

What ever happened to "you are what you eat"?

The FDA has a habit of approving poisons and artificial foods while trying to stop the best nature has to provide. It's too easy to see what they're doing here...

Originally posted by Solomons
Don't expect this to do much in regards to feeding people around the world though.

They would probably reject it. That's happened before.

They know what's going on. TPTB causing them to starve, and then offering to "save them" with it's GM crap. At least they know it's a trick.

[edit on 8/12/09 by NuclearPaul]