HoweStreet.com, Canada
10-23-07
The Delicious Charbroiled Smell of Laboratory Meat
By Jonathan Kolber
I’ll admit it. I have a weakness for the delicious smell of charcoal-broiled meat.
Even during a two-year stint as a vegetarian, that desire never went away.
Those who refrain from eating meat for ethical or health reasons will soon have
an interesting alternative.
AlterNet reports, with considerable fanfare and some hyperbole, that Dutch
scientists are successfully growing "cultured meat" in laboratories. The current
price is several thousand dollars per pound — out of reach of all but the most
wealthy of epicures.
Their aim is to bring it down to several dollars per pound, where it will be cost
competitive with meat that's grown the old-fashioned way. Estimates are that this
could happen within five years.
While the article uses words such as "horrifying" to describe this possibility, it
also does a reasonably accurate job of describing the science and implications.
Essentially, certain stem cells that can become muscle cells are placed on
"scaffolding." As they grow on this scaffolding, they assume a certain shape.
They are immersed in a fluid that gives them the same nutrients blood would
provide if the cells were living inside a body.
An electrical current or mechanical stretching is used to simulate exercise. Voila!
You have ready-to-eat meat.
NASA funded tests in pursuit of a better source of protein for astronauts. It
engaged Touro College biologists Morris Benjaminson and James Gilchriest to
grow goldfish. (Why this was selected as opposed to say, salmon, was never
explained.)
The tiny fillet was breaded and sautéed, prepared by professional chef. Test
subjects found it appealing.
Although some may find the idea of laboratory-grown meat repulsive, there are
some powerful arguments in its favor.
"It's cleaner, healthier, less polluting and more humane," says Jason Matheny, a
doctoral student in agricultural policy at the University of Maryland who sits on
the board of New Harvest, a research organization for in vitro meat.
Such meat would never carry prions-deadly microorganisms that can take
decades to ravage a human brain. It would never serve as a carrier for avian flu
or other possible pandemics.
Not only that, but it can be engineered with a few differences from conventional
meat. For example, unhealthy beef fat could be replaced with salmon fat, thereby
adding important omega-3 fatty acids to the diet.
The inhumane and river-fouling conditions associated with factory farms could
become a thing of the past. Currently, factory-farmed animals in the United
States contribute more than 64,000,000 tons of manure each year. Most of this is
not recycled into fertilizer.
That problem is poised to get far worse as India and China’s burgeoning middle
classes adopt Western-style diets.
While some make the argument is such meat isn't "natural,” Matheny responds
that many foods we eat today are also engineered. Alcoholic beverages and
cheese are prime examples. Further, he points out that the way we produce meat
today is far removed from traditional methods. The vast majority of meat eaters
cannot stand to contemplate how our food is produced. (I know some who, when
faced with the ugly facts, became instant vegetarians.)
Professor Fred Kirschenmann of Iowa State University's Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture points out that, “…every time we mess around with our
ecological heritage there are always unintended side effects that come from it."
"We've got all these animals out there right now," he adds, "and if we suddenly
decide we don't want to raise them, what does that do to the larger ecology?"
Looking down the road, I believe that the concerns about cultured meat are
overstated. First, while it surely will have unintended side effects, the advantages
relative to factory farming are clear and compelling — in every way. Second, we
have the parallel advent of vegetarian meat substitutes of remarkable quality.
For instance, I've long enjoyed Boca burgers and have even cooked them on a
charcoal grill and serve them to friends who didn't realize there were not eating
meat. Boca makes a breaded chicken breast substitute that's so good I defy
anyone to tell it from the real thing.
More recently, I discovered a European company named Quorn. They use a
proprietary mycoprotein source (basically, mushrooms with some vegetable
ingredients thrown in) to produce a variety of meat substitute products. Their
artificial meatballs have all the texture and much of the taste of good oldfashioned Italian meatballs.
I have no doubt that cultured meat products will be entering the market within a
few years. However, these remarkable vegetarian pioneers will be — pardon the
pun — nipping at the heels of meat products, ever more closely approximating
their smell, flavor and nutritional value.
Within five years, I expect you'll be able to throw a barbecue and your guests
won’t be able to tell if the steak they’re eating came from a living animal, a
cultured process or a clever collection of vegetables.