Scientists serve up 100% real meat, without the cruelty or carbon

[Bayard]

Imagine a world where even the most committed vegan can bite into a beef burger without betraying their principles. Science has made this unlikely scenario a reality.

The argument that “meat is murder” could become a thing of the past, thanks to groundbreaking technology that produces real meat from animal cells.

Memphis Meats, which is backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson, is developing a process that churns out beef, chicken and duck, without the need to raise animals for slaughter.

Not only does this fledgling technology safeguard animal welfare, it also provides a solution to the sustainability and human health issues of raising livestock for meat.

With other companies also investing in the technology, it is hoped that so-called ‘clean meat’ could soon be available on the mass market.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/memphis-meat-vegetarian-humane-sustainable


Feed the world... Maybe not so far in the future.

[Caliman73]

1. I'd go for that.

I am sure that Ranchers and Factory Farmers are gearing up to tear the idea down.

[FM123]

2. Very interesting article.

The thing that really caught my eye was: It’s also guaranteed to be free of all antibiotics, E. coli or salmonella.

[USALiberal]

3. I so hope this becomes true! Nt

[Johnny2X2X]

4. This is great

I think it's going to take a couple decades to get the taste right, but I think there's going to eventually be a way to just grow beef without a nervous system. Just a rack of meat hanging in a container that is provided nutrients and stimulus to grow and develop fat and flavor completely without a nervous system or brain.

I view it like the Electric Car industry, that industry didn't really take off until Tesla started making cool looking electric cars that could easily outrace virtually any gas engine car. At some point, they'll be able to produce a rib eye that is graded as prime by using completely ethical and humane methods where no animal existed.

[JudyM]

14. Maybe not so long. The Beyond Beef burger is amazing.

[hunter]

5. If I ate human meat grown in a vat would I be a cannibal?

[Midnight Writer]

10. Only if you are poor. If a rich person eats humans, it makes them a capitalist.

I do reckon a vat grown human meat black market is a possibility.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. Elementary "How the Sausage is Made" (Season 5 Episode 8)

Covered this very idea.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. I am looking forward to lab meat.

[GaYellowDawg]

12. I knew someone was going to "Frankenstein" this post.

Frankenstein, Frankenfood, Frankenmeat... the second I saw the OP, I knew there would be a reply that had Frankenxxxx in there. And as expected, it's a short post, yet full of inaccuracies: Micronutrients don't give us immunity. Love the generalized and unspecified "impurities." To which "impurities" do you refer? Exposure to pathogens does not only come from meat. The idea that we will be "sterile inside" is absolutely ridiculous. Bacterial flora and fauna in the GI tract are responsive to what we eat, but we acquire them through food sources other than meat.

What will it mean for our minds, health, longevity, offspring? It will probably improve all of them. With respect to health, you can precisely control the amount of adipose tissue in the meat. No antibiotics, hormones, or IGFs. In terms of longevity, a diet that has reduced amounts of saturated fats is better for you (although not nearly as important as cutting down on refined carbohydrates). As far as offspring goes, fewer hormones in meat will most likely be better for fertility. And if you think that food doesn't come from a lab... then you've obviously unfamiliar with how alcoholic beverages, sourdough bread, cheese, and yogurt are made. You have to have a setting very much like a lab to keep contaminants from your cultures. It's a very artificial environment. Sure, food can come from a lab. It's the same cells, which have the same proteins, arranged in the same fashion. It's the same tissue. Fearing or hating it because it comes from a lab is hysterical Luddism, and frankly, it's a bit stupid. "Oh no it's LABZ!!1!!1!!" Do you hate prescription insulin because it's produced in a lab and not by a real animal? Those of us who are diabetics would disagree with that viewpoint.

This holds a tremendous amount of promise to cut down on the carbon emissions and the cruelty associated with large-scale meat production. It's fantastic. The problem that I have with this, though, is that I didn't see any detail about the medium used with these cells. I've worked with tissue culture before, and it's required bovine calf serum. Before calling it completely cruelty-free, there would have to be an artificial analogue. Which, of course, some people would pitch a hissy fit over.

[jcgoldie]

9. Looks like I got rid of the cows just in time!

I went all goats for environmental reasons, but I do not see the price of beef rebounding.

[Duppers]

11. K & R

+100