Meat from the lab: Yuk or yum?

[Robin Garr]

I'd swear that this is an urban legend, like the one about McDonald's chicken "nuggets" being grown in a lab, but it's extensively footnoted, including a link to a 2005 New York Times article that reports it as serious news and concludes, "The thought of beef grown in the lab may turn your stomach, but in vitro meat would avoid many of the downsides of factory farming ... meat growers wouldn't need to use a new animal for each set of starter cells - and the meat industry would no longer be dependent on slaughtering animals."

What do you think? Would you chow down on "meat" grown in a petri dish?

In Vitro Meat
by Gregor Wolbring
May 15, 2007

In vitro meat, also known as laboratory-grown meat, is - according to Wikipidia - animal flesh that has never been part of a complete, living animal. Potentially, any animal could be a source of cells for in vitro meat, even humans. No meat has yet been produced for public consumption, but many people are now working in the field. In vitro meat differs from synthetic and artificial meat, which taste and have the texture of meat but do not consist of meat.

New Harvest is a non-profit organization created in the United States to bring cultivated meat closer to reality. Its webpage includes an article by Marianne Heselmans from a Dutch newspaper on September 10, 2005, translated into English with the title "Cultivated Meat: The Dutch cultivate minced meat in a petri dish." The article states that "the universities of Eindhoven, Utrecht and Amsterdam are working to cultivate muscles out of the stem cells of a pig," and that "the Senter/Novem Institute of the Department of Economic Affairs has allotted a two million euro subsidy for a project to cultivate pork meat out of stem cells."

The article quotes Dr. Henk Haagsman, Professor of Meat Sciences at the University of Utrecht: "Six years from now we might already have a product. No loin, yet, but indeed a kind of minced meat the catering industry can use in pizzas or sauces." Haagsman is also quoted as believing that cost and taste will be similar to regular meat.

Click for full story online

I read a story by Margaret Atwood called Oryx and Crake. In one section, she describes something called Chicky Nobs or something like that. They were essentially genetically modified/factory created chicken parts.

I didn't think reality would catch up so quickly with sci fi.

And no. You won't catch me eating that.

that would really be something of a dilemma for those of us who don't eat meat, largely because of the animal cruelty/factory farming issues. Hmmm . . .still seems dodgy.

It makes me want to stop eating meat altogether

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10 ... alCode=ten

This link takes you to the Mary Ann Liebert Biotec publisher with the commentary printed in 2005.
I guess you can cut and paste it

Ewww!

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!

People made Soylent green.

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!

People made Soylent green.

Out of people

Robin,

The thought of eating this is incomprehensible to me. I'm guessing vegetarians have a different view, but this is so far from nature/the farm/ REAL food that there is no way I'd want to eat this, regardless of "safety".

Deb

[Robin Garr]

The thought of eating this is incomprehensible to me. I'm guessing vegetarians have a different view, but this is so far from nature/the farm/ REAL food that there is no way I'd want to eat this, regardless of "safety".

I'm inclined to agree, Deb, although in the real world, we're not as far from that sort of thing now as you might think. Remember the stuff I reported in LEO last fall that's used in White Castle "chicken rings" and maybe McNuggets?

<I>Mechanically Separated Poultry (MSP) is a paste-like and batter-like poultry product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible tissue, through a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate bone from the edible tissue. Mechanically separated poultry has been used in poultry products since the late 1960s. In 1995, a final rule on mechanically separated poultry said it was safe and could be used without restrictions. However, it must be labeled as “mechanically separated chicken or turkey” in the product’s ingredients statement.</i>

We're eating that now, and lord help us, sometimes even enjoying it ...

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!

People made Soylent green.

Out of people

Uhm, it was a movie.

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!

People made Soylent green.

Out of people

Uhm, it was a movie.

No kidding. I thought it was real.

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!

People made Soylent green.

Out of people

Uhm, it was a movie.

No kidding. I thought it was real.

Robin,

But at least that chicken is real chicken meat: with a mechanical way of extracting it from the bone. We've had "formed" chicken breasts in the industry for years now, but it doesn't taste anywhere good as the real thing and the texture is awful. (Won't find me using any formed products- at the store or at home.)

I find the comment in the article that "it tastes like real meat' to be interesting. Compared to what??? Compared to less tasteful Purdue monster chicken we've gotten use to in the last 20 years, or the incredible Waterworks Farms free-range chickens we had at the store (and you can still get at the Bardstown Road farmers market)? The US public in general has gotten very used to bland/homogenized foods so maybe compared to that, it does taste close to "real meat"....How sad if that's our comparison.

Deb

[Robin Garr]

I find the comment in the article that "it tastes like real meat' to be interesting. Compared to what??? Compared to less tasteful Purdue monster chicken we've gotten use to in the last 20 years, or the incredible Waterworks Farms free-range chickens we had at the store (and you can still get at the Bardstown Road farmers market)? The US public in general has gotten very used to bland/homogenized foods so maybe compared to that, it does taste close to "real meat"....How sad if that's our comparison.

You're preachin' to the choir, Deb! I think you'll find a lot of us here don't eat industrial chicken any more, though. I won't buy Tyson or Perdue for reasons of both quality and ethics. Even if the stuff tasted good, they don't treat their birds much better than they treat their workers.