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Vegan Mayonnaise Company Starts Growing Its Own Meat In Labs, Says It Will Get To Stores First (qz.com)

Chase Purdy reports via Quartz: The maker of vegan mayonnaise has been working on getting lab-made meat onto dinner tables everywhere. It's just that nobody knew about it. Hampton Creek -- a company that built its name on plant-based condiments and vegan-friendly cookie doughs -- today revealed that, for the last year, it has been secretly developing the technology necessary for producing lab-made meat and seafood, or as the industry likes to call it, "clean meat." Perhaps even more surprising is that Hampton Creek expects to beat its closest competitor to market by more than two years. Since it was founded in 2015, Memphis Meats has raised at least $3 million from five investors for the development of its meat products, according to Crunchbase. By contrast, Hampton Creek -- just a 20-mile drive from its Silicon Valley rival -- has raised more than $120 million since 2011. It's one of Silicon Valley's unicorns -- a company that has a valuation that exceeds $1 billion.

8 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What's the point... by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yeah, but they're a tiny bit labor and resource intensive. With lab grown meat, you might be able to grow yer own on the kitchen counter top.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  2. Re:What's the point... by Captain+Linger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, but they're a tiny bit labor and resource intensive. With lab grown meat, you might be able to grow yer own on the kitchen counter top.

    But then it turns out that the $300 meat machine you bought could've just been replaced by hand squeezing the meat packs you buy.

  3. Re:What's the point... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    The first vat-grown hamburger cost $325,000. The cost is now about $12 per pound. That is a decline in price by a factor of 30,000 in four years. Progress happens.

  4. Re:What's the point... by godrik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it could eventually get cheaper to grow meat rather than raise the animals. It could also have implication for places were it is inconvenient to raise animals. Think in the polar region or the desert. Also, raising animal is not environmentally friendly and my not scale to a 10 billion human population at US consumption rate.

    Some people object to eating animal products (7+ million in the us, 350+ million in the world) but may not object to grown meat which could be a trillion dollar industry in itself.

  5. No, fake = fake, meat = meat. by skam240 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Calling it fake meat would be inaccurate. Soy deli slices are fake meat. This would be meat, just not from an anaimal.

    As for "if you dont eat meat why eat this?", anyone who doesnt eat meat because they have an ethical issue with killing an animal but still enjoys the taste and values the level of nutrition provided by meat would be very interested in this.

    On top of that, there are many of us who love eating meat but recognize that it's a very inefficient means of making food in a world where food and water scarcity is becoming more and more of an issue and who believe this could be a great way to get meat with less resources used.

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  6. Re: Corruption of vegatarian/vegan philosophy by Wycliffe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    People are vegan for different reasons. Some are vegan for health reasons, Some are vegan for the environment, but most are vegan because they are against killing animals that feel pain.

  7. Did you know by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    dyslexic jihadists get 27 vegans.

  8. Re:Not real meat by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Informative

    On the other hand, we have people who are currently subjecting themselves to be lab rats, testing whether we can survive without meat.

    Hardly lab rats. A sizable percent of India (the world's most populous country) have been eating a vegetarian diet for centuries. The longest lived communities in the world all share a common trait: very little meat consumption.

    It's not an experiment. You can survive without eating meat, and you will probably live longer if you don't eat much of it. It's not that we can't live without meat, it's that meat is tasty and we enjoy eating it.

    I know less meat and more veggies is healthy for me, but I'm not giving up meat because I love meat.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch