We're a step closer to lab-grown steaks at the supermarket

[charlie]

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.

“This product will be good for the environment and will reduce animal suffering. If it feels and tastes like meat, people will buy it...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6680989/Meat-grown-in-laboratory-in-world-first.html

[Lisa0825]

1. If it is better than current meat substitutes, I would try it!

But I doubt they could ever equal a really great steak. I would be thrilled if it were good enough for ground beef because I really haven't liked the veggie "crumbles" I have tried.

[napi21]

7. Yea, I tried that vegiburger stuff ONCE! It was awful!!!

On one hand I hope this succeeds because it would eliminate a lot of the world's problems, BUT on the other hand I'me wary of what the hell it is? Lots of people believe ovesity is at least in part caused by high fructose corn syrup, and I don't think anyone knows what long term effect all the hormones that are being used on meat products are causing. Something is causing girls to mature much faster than in past years.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. Uh...

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[madrchsod]

4. soylent green ?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. eww! That is so... so... yuck nt

[Honeycombe8]

13. "IT'S PEOPLE! IT'S PEOPLE!" nt

[HopeHoops]

5. FRANKENFOOD FROM HELL!

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

9. I totally agree! nt

[Odin2005]

20. TECHNOPHOBIC HYSTERIA IS TEH SHIT!!!

[Posteritatis]

21. Omg! You're getting intertron rays on me! (nt)

[dustbunnie]

3. I think it's just amazing and wonderful and would definitely eat it.

We might even be able to save a few species, and oh yeah... the earth.

[charlie]

16. Me too

There are so many issues this could address. Rampant clear-cutting, animal confinement, ruminant methane, waste effluvia pollution, crop diversion into animal feed, hormone and antibiotic contamination, vectors for diseases like flus and mad cow, e coli and salmonella poisoning...

And we could truly Save the Whales and everything else in our exhausted oceans for once. Plus, who knows, the American diet may improve. People might discover they prefer salmon over beef if it was cheap and plentiful.

[Oregone]

6. "saying there was “no ethical objection” if meat was not a piece of a dead animal."

Does it have a smaller carbon footprint?


(itd be hard to imagine it wouldn't, but who knows)

[Maru Kitteh]

24. It's hard to imagine anything could have a larger CF than intensive corporate farming

[BeatleBoot]

10. These labs get a bad rap

My Lab is pretty Savvy

But, I really think she couldn't do that sort of thing





She's smart (her tirades over korean wedding dog, for example) but...

I think Labs are misunderstood.

[Lisa0825]

11. To those saying "yuck".... what is the big difference between this and

various processed foods, including vegetarian fake meats? Is it really that different?

[Posteritatis]

14. "It's unnatural!" they say.. on the Internet... (nt)

[Frank Booth]

12. Good.

I won't have to feel so guilty about eating a steak anymore.

[dysfunctional press]

15. i don't think that most americans will go for eating dogs...

here's mine.

[Gman]

17. LOL! PETA will find something to whine and complain about

[Deja Q]

18. Yeah, that it's not made from real animals and therefore they have nothing to complain about!

:crazy:

Gotta love it... :D

[Hissyspit]

33. See post #32. nt

[TheMadMonk]

28. People Eating Tasty Animals would certainly have cause for concern. nt

[Hissyspit]

32. PETA Offers $1 Million Reward to Make In Vitro Meat

http://www.peta.org/feat_in_vitro_contest.asp

PETA Offers $1 Million Reward to First to Make In Vitro Meat

Scientists around the world are researching or seeking the funds to research ways to produce meat in the laboratory—without killing any animals. In vitro meat production would use animal stem cells that would be placed in a medium to grow and reproduce. The result would mimic flesh and could be cooked and eaten. Some promising steps have been made toward this technology, but we're still several years away from having in vitro meat be available to the general public.

PETA is now stepping in and offering a $1 million reward to the first scientist to produce and bring to market in vitro meat.

Why is PETA supporting this new technology? More than 40 billion chickens, fish, pigs, and cows are killed every year for food in the United States in horrific ways. Chickens are drugged to grow so large they often become crippled, mother pigs are confined to metal cages so small they can't move, and fish are hacked apart while still conscious—all to feed America's meat addiction. In vitro meat would spare animals from this suffering. In addition, in vitro meat would dramatically reduce the devastating effects the meat industry has on the environment.

Of course, humans don't need to eat meat at all—vegetarians are less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, or various types of cancer or become obese than meat-eaters are—and a terrific array of vegetarian mock meats already exist. But as many people continue to refuse to kick their meat addictions, PETA is willing to help them gain access to flesh that doesn't cause suffering and death.

MORE

[Odin2005]

19. Awesome! This is cool stuff!

[Maru Kitteh]

22. I would support this fully.

[G_j]

23. does this food offer vitamins etc. missing from vegetable protein?

are beans, nuts, etc. that bad?

I mean, it's an interesting idea. Does it serve a nutritional purpose, beyond taste and texture?

& I'll admit I didn't read the whole article.

[Quantess]

25. the "soggy pork" sounds like it needs a workout.

Obviously, the lab meat needs to tone & tighten.
Maybe if you plugged electrodes into the lab meat, it could get exercise that way.

[boppers]

26. It's still animal tissue.

...but not a dead animal.

Interesting.

[1]

27. yum. not. i'll stick with the old school meat, if that's ok. tofukey for the rest of you...

[thelordofhell]

29. I'll have a number two with soggy pork

And a sake bomber

[tridim]

30. What proteins are in the "broth of other animal products"?

And what about fat? Steak without fat tastes like crap.

[Edweird]

31. Life imitating art - this was on an episode of "Better Off Ted".

Great show. I'm not eating meat manufactured in a lab. I'll figure out how to raise a cow in my apartment first.

[Hissyspit]

34. The dystopic novel 'Feed' has a visit to a filet mignon farm.