Mmmmmm....Vat-grown meat!

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http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1098

Paper Says Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale
July 6, 2005
Contacts: Ellen Ternes
Experiments for NASA space missions have shown that small amounts of edible meat can be created in a lab. But the technology that could grow chicken nuggets without the chicken, on a large scale, may not be just a science fiction fantasy.
In a paper in the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects for industrial production of cultured meat.
[...]
Matheny's team developed ideas for two techniques that have potential for large scale meat production. One is to grow the cells in large flat sheets on thin membranes. The sheets of meat would be grown and stretched, then removed from the membranes and stacked on top of one another to increase thickness.
The other method would be to grow the muscle cells on small three-dimensional beads that stretch with small changes in temperature. The mature cells could then be harvested and turned into a processed meat, like nuggets or hamburgers.
[...]
And, the authors agree, it might take work to convince consumers to eat cultured muscle meat, a product not yet associated with being produced artificially.
"On the other hand, cultured meat could appeal to people concerned about food safety, the environment, and animal welfare, and people who want to tailor food to their individual tastes," says Matheny. The paper even suggests that meat makers may one day sit next to bread makers on the kitchen counter.
"The benefits could be enormous," Matheny says. "The demand for meat is increasing world wide -- China 's meat demand is doubling every ten years. Poultry consumption in India has doubled in the last five years.
"With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply. And you could do it in a way that's better for the environment and human health. In the long term, this is a very feasible idea."
Matheny saw so many advantages in the idea that he joined several other scientists in starting a nonprofit, New Harvest, to advance the technology. One of these scientists, Henk Haagsman, Professor of Meat Science at Utrecht University, received a grant from the Dutch government to produce cultured meat, as part of a national initiative to reduce the environmental impact of food production.
For more information on cultured meat, see the New Harvest website, http://www.new-harvest.org .

What happens to the politics or emotional motivation for vegetarianism or veganism when there's no actual animal involved?

― kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 04:57 (twenty years ago)

My favorite part of that article:

(quote)
"The challenge is getting the texture right," says Matheny. "We have to figure out how to 'exercise' the muscle cells. For the right texture, you have to stretch the tissue, like a live animal would."
(endquote)

What a great job that would be! Taking disembodied slabs of tissue for 'walkies' to make sure it has a nice grain to it.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 05:04 (twenty years ago)

At last! Guilt free meat eating.

― moley (moley), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

Soylent Green is People!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

People!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

oryx and crake to thread

― anthony easton (anthony), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 05:41 (twenty years ago)

steak sauce to thread

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 05:43 (twenty years ago)

For more information on cultured meat, see the New Harvest website, http://www.new-harvest.org .

Why am I having Matrix visuals here?

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 07:26 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, this is really creepy Oryx and Crake stuff coming true. Argh.

― MIS Information (kate), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 07:27 (twenty years ago)

i think this is a fantastic plan. This way we can bring about, and survive, a new ice age, purely through our blind faith in progress.

― lukey (Lukey G), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 10:21 (twenty years ago)

we'll use the synth-meat for clothing!

― latebloomer: the Clonus Horror (latebloomer), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

eww, bacon trousers

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

Hats made of meat, vindicated! :D

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 11:16 (twenty years ago)

http://67.19.222.106/politics/graphics/meat.jpg

No animals were harmed in the production of this garment?

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:33 (twenty years ago)

The best part is, this sort of technology would help end world hunger! But it won't!

― Jimmy Mod Is Sick of Being The Best At Everything (ModJ), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

I want a meat-maker on my counter!
Whole new meaning to things like "10 more minutes until the chicken's done." I love this, but yeah, like electric cars and solar power, it will take a long long long time to catch on a in a global/economically feasible (or accepted) way.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure PETA will find an angle to hate on this.

― no tech! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:53 (twenty years ago)

How about that it's DISGUSTING?

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:03 (twenty years ago)

No more disgusting than what most food has to go through before it gets to the consumer...

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

These scientists are Bene Tleilaxu, and the "vats" are axlotl tanks, and I say we destroy them.

― Bryan (Bryan), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

Weird, yes, but disgusting? It's about growing tissue, not growing whole animals (with brains and nervous systems that feel/sense). Yes, they then "kill" the tissue so we can eat it, but that seems more akin to "killing" vegetables when you pull them from the plant. (okay, I just realized how sci-fi/matrixy that sounded, but still! I don't quite find it disgusting.)
xpost

I totally want meat cling-wrap for meat roll-up sandwiches. The novelty of inside-out sandwiches will take a while to wear off on me, I think.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

Meat. It grows on trees now.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

yeah, im not sure it's disgusting at all.

at last, i can eat my chicken raw the way i like it!

*that's* disgusting.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

if it look like a steak, smell like a steak, you can dump it on a grill & marianate it and have it taste like a steak, it'll be good enough.

we should probably take all the food sources we can get. the only thing that would hold this back is a marketing angle.

i mean, shit, people, we already have burgers & ribs made of soy...

― kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

would you be able to buy it still 'alive'? There's no nervous system, but could you make it twitch with electrical current?

― superultramega (superultramarinated), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Or better yet, would you be able to grow your own, ala a vegetable garden?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

Yes, as in the Countertop Meat-Maker! So, for sure, in that case it would be alive and you would have to harvest/kill/detach it yourself. I don't know if it would necessarily twitch though... okay, maybe, ew at that idea, thanks for that, superultramegaguy (and hi!)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

"Honey? I'm gonna be working late this evening. Can you grow a pot roast for the kids? The ingredients are in the biohazard cabinet."

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

I am now imagining exercising huge sheets of kithen-grown meat in the backyard by applying a charge to make it contract and flex and wriggle (aka 'walkies' as above), followed by a tenderizing massage. (hi robyn)

― superultramega (superultramarinated), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

ewww. the whole thing just feels creepy to me, yet cloning doesn't somehow?!? It makes no sense at at all I know.

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 01:26 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

can they grow leather/suede/nubuck etc as well? that'd shut PETA up for keeps.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Sunday, 14 August 2005 08:07 (twenty years ago)

As a result of hearing this story, I had a dream last night about being served a Big Mac by Simon Amstell. I only realised halfway through that I didn't eat meat. Bah.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 14 August 2005 10:15 (twenty years ago)

"being served a Big Mac by Simon Amstell" - I think belongs on the new euphemisms thread.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Sunday, 14 August 2005 11:29 (twenty years ago)

After I'd had a mouthful, I couldn't decide whether to spit or swallow.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 14 August 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

that Alba, he don't eat meat but he sure like the bone.

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 14 August 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

that posting didn't feel good

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 14 August 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

What I wonder about is if the meat has a decent flavor; isn't an animal's flavor largely based on its diet? What is the diet of engineered meat?

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

http://pages.istar.ca/~sdevet/Animal-57.jpg

― j.lu (j.lu), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

In response to Ian: Agar?

― I'm Hi, Jared Fogle (ex machina), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

bump because I just deleted another dupe thread on this.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 15 August 2005 12:00 (twenty years ago)

i'm surprised nobody had suggested already but..

imagine the kind of realdolls you can make!!

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 15 August 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

made out of spam? Eugh . . .

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Monday, 15 August 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

dildos made of ACTUAL MEAT

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 15 August 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

if you grew human cells in culture and ppl ate them would that be the Acceptable Face of Cannibalism?

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 15 August 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

this reminds me of "chicken little" in Frederick Pohl's "the Space Merchants" (1972?) - a gargantuan slab of pulsating, bio-engineered meat tissue tended to round the clock by scrubbers, flensers, "muscle excercisers", etc. that is hidden away in an underground lab and that single-handedly (lumpedly?) provides the Americas' meat supply.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 August 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

i would eat so much more meat if this was a reality. i think lots of veggies wouldn't because there is so much vegetarian/anti GM crossover

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 01:45 (twenty years ago)

I like Mark's moral teaser.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

To the people who find this disgusting all I can say is have you seen the way the animals that grow your meat are treated these days?

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 09:30 (twenty years ago)

Space Merchants is 50s Shakey. Reminded me of that too!

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

i really dont find this too disgusting. it seems a lot cleaner and more humane to me. more efficient and healthier to boot. why bother growing the fat if you're just going to have to trim it off later.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

"Space Merchants is 50s Shakey. "

thx - I couldn't remember which came first in the series, I knew the sequel (Merchants' War?) was written decades later and got 'em mixed up.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

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