I’ve been a vegetarian for 10 years, out of ethical and increasingly environmental considerations – and we have talked about the environmental impact of livestock production in abundance. However, I realize that the probability of most people switching towards an herbivore lifestyle is rather low, whether they want to maintain protein intake or plainly like the taste of a juicy steak. What, then, if we could get exactly that – a nutritional and yummy piece of meat – without ever having to raise or slaughter an animal?
(This image is a fiction of in vitro meat packed for sale. The photo was displayed at Skip Life, an exhibit that aims at investigate day-to-day normality as an on-going process, influenced by the scientific knowledge and technological applications.)
Fabrice de Nola, 2008. Flesh Lab, digital C-Print, cm 60×90.
This might sound like Science Fiction, but companies such as Modern Meadow are engaging in intensive research activities to explore the possibilities of manufacturing synthetic meat and animal products. The first item they are tackling are leather, which they create by “using 3-D printing to deposit clumps of cells into patterns of tissue“, as this NBC article explains. After printing, the cells fuse together, and the company then transforms these hides into usable leather. Their first prototype is supposed to debut later this year.
Other researchers and companies have been looking into the possibility of creating in-vitro meat for decades, yielding the first results in 2001, when scientists were able to add 14% of muscle cells to a piece of fish that they immersed in fetal bovine serum. This started a race fueled by PETA’s challenge to award $1 million to the first successful in-vitro meat creation. While the original deadline of the contest (started in 2008) was June 30th, 2012, they extended the evaluation deadline by a year to June 2013 and the final deadline to early 2016 in order to focus the competition on marketable in-vitro chicken. The rules: you get $1 million if you
- Produce an in vitro chicken-meat product that has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh to non-meat-eaters and meat-eaters alike.
- Manufacture the approved product in large enough quantities to be sold commercially, and successfully sell it at a competitive price in at least 10 states.
A Guardian article claimed in January 2012 that the “test-tube meat” could become a reality that year, with more than 30 teams around the world working on the best and most efficient way to make such meat tasty and economically viable. There are two dominant methods out there right now – first, to grow new muscle cells from stem cells and ‘bulking’ them up by stretching them, in a process that mimics exercise; and second, to use the 3-D printing used by Modern Meadow in leather production to also spray successive layers of ‘bio-ink’ to build fake steaks or hamburgers. NBC reports that Modern Meadow’s research efforts are immensely interesting for industry and governments alike, are supported by both private and public grants, and that their project already garnered $2 million of funding.
There are still some hurdles to overcome in research, however: getting the taste and texture just right might prove difficult, given that real meat is not just muscle tissue but also contains fat cells and a complex network of blood vessels, all of which contribute to what we expect meat to taste like. Plus, at this early stage it is still really expensive, and researchers envision having a hard time convincing consumers to try in-vitro meat: in a USDA funding application, Modern Meadow suggested that “we expect it will first appeal to culinary early-adopted consumers, and the segment of the vegetarian community that rejects meat for ethical reasons. With reduction in price, it can reach the masses with religious restrictions on meat consumption (people restricted to Hindu, Kosher, Halal diets) and finally populations with limited access to safe meat production“. This last point is interesting because it is argued that in-vitro meat would be easier to control for food-based pathogens, and thus safer for consumption.
The question about the edibility is real, however, since an in-vitro hamburger cook-off that has been several times postponed is finally supposed to happen in a couple of weeks, as the New York Times reported. Mark Post from Maastricht University is one of the pioneers in the area and has successfully created a $325,000 hamburger using 20,000 thin strips of cultured muscle tissue. According to the article, “Dr. Post, who has conducted some informal taste tests, said that even without any fat, the tissue “tastes reasonably good.” For the London event he plans to add only salt and pepper.“
It is so fascinating to me that here animal rights activists and meat afficionados are actively working together (or at least encouraging each other) to solve some of the ethical and environmental concerns facing meat consumption.
According to an informal Huffington Post poll, 59% of readers would try in-vitro meat. How about you?
Bonus: This How Stuff Works article explains the whole process much better than I could – check it out if you want more details!
Hmm I haven’t eaten meat for more than 3 years now (only fish occasionally but less and less) and I’m not sure I’d particularly want to try this, especially because I now find it so easy to live without meat. Would you try it?
I dunno… Out of interest maybe? I feel the same way as you though, I barely miss any meat dishes and rather veer on the side of being grossed out by them. But if I got my dad to make his signature meatballs (one of those nostalgia things) with in-vitro meat I think I’d go for it if only to convince him to try it too 😉
I find that these various “synthetic meats” and “synthetic foods” are oversold. They have been promoted, a lot like fusion energy, since I was a child (very long ago). They certainly have no relevance for “solving hunger” and alike which the researchers wanting more money mostly claim – the poor is certainly not the target group here. They always need a feed stock in the same way as animal rearing. This is the same regardless if they are vegetarian like Quourn, or meaty like those hamburgers. The efficiency in this conversion is doubtful. There are so many wonderful plants and animals to eat out there, so why grow them in labs.
http://gardenearth.blogspot.se/2011/02/at-last-yuckmeat.html
I understand where you are coming from, and certainly agree that ‘synthetic meats’ can’t and shouldn’t be the solution to world hunger. There are definitely better strategies to move poor countries toward more food security, including sustainable pastoralism. On the other hand, I do think there are interesting long-run research prospects in this field, especially considering the fact that it seems nearly impossible to fulfill the growing demand for meat in transition countries like China and India without seriously endangering animal welfare as well as forest ecosystems that are converted into agricultural land to grow feed stock. From what I can tell (and despite the fact that this sounds pretty futuristic), the researchers contend that their method could eventually produce meat with less water and “feed” input (since this particular type of lab-grown meat pretty much grows ‘fed’ by the serum it is submerged in). This sounds more efficient at least in principle, if resource efficiency is all one is after. Similarly, the simple fact that other ‘synthetic’ protein sources like Quorn also require feed stocks does not necessarily mean that their calorie conversion rate – of calories put in to calories produced – is the same as for meat products.
Furthermore, as an ethical vegetarian I think there is a significant difference in these kinds of products purely because one does not have to take a sentient life and does not have to put a living being through an often significant period of suffering as often happens in our conventional livestock production system.
I don’t want to advocate for the fact that ‘lab-grown’ meats or proteins are the be-and-end-all, I am pretty skeptical towards fake meats as well (especially things like “veggie hamburgers” or “veggie hotdogs” are often heavily processed and loaded with sodium and other additives), but I do think that there is a certain amount of potential in R&D here – even if a push towards more moderate meat consumption patterns and a simultaneous serious effort in animal welfare and sustainability might be the easier option. What do you think?