Large Scale Production of Artificial Meat

Fraser Cain writes "Scientists at the University of Maryland think that large quantities of artificial meat could be produced to supply the world with animal-free meat products, like chickenless nuggets. This is based on experiments for NASA, that created small amounts of fish protein cultured from single cells. According to the researchers, larger quantities could be grown in thin sheets and then stacked up to create thickness. Of course, they need to figure out a way to exercise it to make it taste like regular meat."

Comments

Chickenless Nuggets?!

[passthecrackpipe]

I already get those at McDonalds today - who needs these acedemics to come up with this when you can just go out and buy it in the store?

Re:Chickenless Nuggets?!

[uncoveror]

This should come as a surprise to no one. The Uncoveror reported what they had done to McNuggets a long time ago! And to think, people accuse us of making up Chick'n and Treemeat.

Oh boy oh boy

[Winterblink]

I can't wait to head down to the local supermarket and buy some "I Can't Believe It's Not Steak".

May I be the first to say...

[Mr.G5]

Soylent Green is pppeeeooopppllleee!

Just not the same.

[TripMaster Monkey]

If no animal had to die for the meat, what's the point? Meat just isn't the same without the murder. ^_^

"Broccoli will always taste like broccoli. But meat tastes like murder, and murder tastes pretty damned good, doesn't it?"

-Denis Leary

Re:Just not the same.

[hab136]

A little more seriously...if no animal had to die for the meat, what will this mean for voluntary (PETA-style) vegetarianism or veganism? What will it mean for religious vegetarianism?

Religious? Probably nothing - it's still actually meat, just carved from one giant contiually cloned, ever-living, non-sentient beast.

PETA? They should embrace this, since the artificial meat will be non-sentient. I'm sure they'll have a problem with it though.. protesters tend to wrap up their identity in the fact that they're a protester. If you fix the problem they care about, they'll find something else to protest about, because otherwise they have to stop protesting.

There are people that genuinely care about an issue, and aren't protesting as a lifestyle, and to those people - rock on. But many in protest organizations basically protest for a living.

Re:The True Test

[erlenic]

I think it's more likely that people won't bite even if it does taste exactly the same as real meat. It's just not the same in most people's eyes. As for me, I'll eat it if it's cheaper or significantly better tasting. I also have to be able to grill it.

Get Your Wendy Burger Here

[Madcapjack]

Our Burgers are Made from fresh vat grown Wendy Meat. You won't get a better Wendy Meat burger any where else!

Why replace meat?

[computersareevil]

Why do those who are trying so hard to eliminate animal meat try so hard to make the replacements look, feel, and taste like meat? I've never understood that.

Re:Why replace meat?

[blincoln]

Why do those who are trying so hard to eliminate animal meat try so hard to make the replacements look, feel, and taste like meat? I've never understood that.

Uh... because meat generally tastes good? There are a lot of recipes that require it, or at least a reasonable facsimile? Barbecuing things is fun, and soy/wheat mock burgers and hotdogs work a lot better for that than a chunk of tofu?

Maybe more economical.

[vertinox]

I'm not sure about the economics, but one would think eventually it would be cheaper to grow meat in a vat than raise a few million animals, pay for their feed, clean their waste, and then spend the time and money shipping them off to the slaughter house.

At least it would take less energy and be more environmental friendly or don't stink up the local area...

Ever drove by a pig farm? They have a ton by the coast in North Carolina and they don't call em pigs for nothing.

Re:The True Test

[hab136]

I think it's more likely that people won't bite even if it does taste exactly the same as real meat. It's just not the same in most people's eyes.

Hot dogs sell pretty well, actually.

Re:We have right to enslave animals!

[DougInthezoo]

OK, so if the whole point of a vegan or vegetarian's lifestyle is to preserve life, ponder this. Over 100,000 animals are killed every time 1 acre of land is plowed to plant those precious soybeans. And I'm not counting insects here, just mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Mice, gophers, groundhogs, snakes, frogs, salamanders, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

What makes a cow's life more important than the life of a frog, or a snake, or a little mouse?

If saving life was the most important aspect of your culinary habits, then you would be eating blue whales and elephants, as one death would feed so many people.

Yes, there is way more than a hint of sarcasm in my reply here, but I"m sick of hearing the rhetoric of vegetarians and vegans who claim that I am in some way inferior to them because I eat meat. Now, I'm far from the average. I raise, slaughter and butcher my own meat as much as I can on 5 acres. That way I know it lived an above average life, and was in optimum health at the time it died.

Lastly, for anyone who wants to cut out all meat from their diet, please, please research B vitamins from a non-vegetarian source. B12 is something that can not be replicated by plants, and the various 'vegan' forms of B12 out there are incapable of being absorbed by the human digestive system. Side effects of B12 deficiency are: mental illness, paralysis, continual chronic pain syndromes, and virtually every other nervous disorder in the book.

I've had friends go vegan, and can personally attest to the fact that it changes them mentally, they are plagued with depression, and physical disorders. One fried in particular keeps breaking ribs from caughing, because her bone mass dropped so quickly from malnutrition. And yet, she became so preachy about how superiour her lifestyle was.

Schools and prisons

[davidwr]

If it's cheap, nutritious, and almost tasty expect to see it in public schools.

If it's cheap, nutritious, and gross, expect to see it in prisons.