Probably wasn't grown in a lab.
I love eating meat. It’s no secret that I would probably be strictly carnivorous if it were just as easy to whip up a half-rack of ribs as it is to pour a bowl of cereal. Alas, meat preparation can be relatively involved, so I don’t eat it with every meal. But I do get what I call “protein deprivation” headaches if I have to go more than, say, 24 hours without meat.
All of this is to say that I have a vested interest in knowing I have a reliable supply of meat of available. So I wish I would’ve been less, um, nauseated when I learned how serious scientists are about lab-grown meat meat as the smart alternative to the real deal.
Warning: I apologize upfront to any vegetarians, vegans, or anyone else who takes offense to my undying love of meat. I am flawed.
Let’s start out with a poll, just because I’m curious:
Loading ...Despite my love of science and nerdy things, I must admit I’m in the category of “Never! The concept of it makes me lose my appetite!” I’m just being honest, and I imagine I’m not the only person whose mouth fails to water at the image of some researcher growing meat on a plate somewhere in an almost science-fiction-gone-real scenario. My mouth doesn’t water at the idea of slaughterhouses either, but I can’t shake the feeling that the meat I eat should come from a full-fledged animal and not from tissue growing in an incubator.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The latest discussions on in vitro meat production come out of a recent workshop in Gothenburg, Sweden focusing on the exploration of cultured meat. Some of the benefits (many environmental) of cultured meat could include:
- Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Farm animals grazing around emitting methane from their rear ends contribute quite a bit to the greenhouse gas problem, and using cultured meat in place of traditional meat could reduce these emissions.
- Increased land and water resources if fewer animals were grown for meat.
- Fewer animals in unethical environments.
- Theoretically, more control over the fat and nutrient content, as well as meat quality, of cultured meat versus traditional meat.
This all sounds pretty great. So how does this meat culturing work?
In short, you need muscle stem cells from an animal — maybe a cow, maybe a chicken, or maybe…a mouse?! Well, according to this document on cultured meat from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, mouse cells are “much easier” to work with (nothing is mentioned of the taste). These stem cells would need to be continuously bathed in nutrients and periodically stimulated to get “exercise” like normal muscles would. And unless they want all cultured meat to look like minced meat, researchers still have to find a way to simulate the blood vessels that feed normal muscle.
Muscle stem cells...yum!
To be fair, cultured meat is a fantastic concept with myriad implications for the environment and even world hunger. But for me and people like me, it may take a while for the psyche to warm up to the idea. As it turns out, though, there should be plenty of time before I have to make a call between traditional and cultured meat at the grocery store: cultured meat is currently expensive to produce and funding is limited for this type of research, many of the culturing methods are only in the preliminary stages, and a whole lot of testing would need to be done before the meat could be brought to consumers.
On the flip side, some say that producing less traditional meat will only increase world hunger while failing to noticeably impact global warming, which is dominated by emissions from activities like transportation and electricity production. Farming smarter, not less, could be more feasible than trying to grow meat in vitro.
In any case, I imagine that the choice between traditional meat and cultured meat will be one that I’ll get to make in my lifetime. Maybe (hopefully?) I’ll be able to stomach the notion of meat that’s been grown in a lab by the time that day rolls around.
In the meantime, I’d love to get your thoughts on cultured meat – leave a comment! 
(Pssst! The winner of the Try Nerdy merchandise giveaway will be announced Friday morning during the 8:00 hour – start Tweeting if you haven’t already!)
Tuomisto HL, & de Mattos MJ (2011). Environmental impacts of cultured meat production. Environmental science & technology, 45 (14), 6117-23 PMID: 21682287
My first thought was: “Will I get calfbrain again???”
(I do not know whether there is a gourmet term for this, I can only describe that in my childhood organs like liver, kidney and also the brains of cattle were cheap. Steak or roastbeef was something I could only try as an adult with my own wage. Since the mad cow disease liver is difficult to obtain, and brain no longer at all.)
I am allergic to soy, and do not like alfalfa ( as sprouts it is o.k., but I mean protein concentrate, ersatz meat. There is an European version which is not bitter, and sold in organic shops)
Therefore I do sympathize with your reasoning towards eating meat, although I prefer to put the ethics differently: I am against suffering, because I come from an abuse family and know what torture is. The production of milk is rape and enforced pregnancies done to cows, and for me a risk for binges (ICE CREAM).
But death could be painless for cattle, swine and humans alike.
There is no necessity to die in a nursery home for a human, and no necessity for long transports and big slaughterhouses, just (in)human laws to do it this way.
And each cell of the animals could be grown to give a steak, a portion of brain, a slice of liver…
Hope soon.
For the past year (since it became available here in Australia) I’ve replaced most of my meat intake with a substitute from the UK called Quorn. It’s fermented soil mold (I can’t stomach soy-based protein) grown in factory vats and has flavour, fat, filler etc added after it’s tapped. The manufacturers claim it uses one fifth of the resources and energy used to produce real meat (ie good for the environment).
As for my own, admittedly subjective, opinion: it looks, smells, tastes and is textured like real meat – chicken pork and beef, depending on how it’s been processed.
Lab-grown muscle tissue would have to have significant benefits over the above for me to make a switch.
Of course I still like real meat, so I occasionally eat kangaroo, one of the few meats that have a significantly low impact on the environment and a very low fat content.
Wow, I’ve never heard of Quom; I’ll have to check it out now. Perhaps this could be a more palatable middle ground between genuine meat and the lab-made version. Thanks for bringing this into the conversation!
Mighty useful. Make no mistake, I apparecite it.
Please say real meat will still be available as well!!! I do not want lab meat I like the real deal!!
Rest assured, real meat is probably never going away, as long as animals still exist
Not concerned with the environment still want real meat!!! Not lab meat!!!
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