Would You Eat The "Meat"?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to eat a piece of meat that was grown, SANS THE ANIMAL? Recent discoveries by some of today’s most cutting edge scientists have granted this far-fetched idea some form of reality. Dutch businessman, Willem van Eelen, first initiated the idea while spending time in a Japanese prison camp during the 1950s. Since then scientists have been working hard to generate meat products in alternative ways. One party in particular that has led the way in this field are the Universities of Eindhoven, Utrecht and Amsterdam in the Netherlands who have been “working to cultivate muscles out of the stem cells of a pig.” (Heselmans).
The initial process of growing meat can be simply described as placing cells on a petri-dish where they would then grow into who tissues. Seems easy. The hard part is being able to grow muscle on a large scale, one that might actually satisfy someone’s hunger. In order to do so researchers need to use thin sheets of membranes that would be combined with a correct combination of muscle and fat cells in order to create an appealing texture and taste. Another factor that would need to be assessed is that, “like any muscle, during this process the muscles cells would have to be ‘exercised’ so that they would grow and stretch and not turn mushy.” (Pilkington). So I guess it’s not so easy after all!


If This Doesn't Work Try The Link Provided Below. My Apologies.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/video/3302/q05-220.html

This isn’t the first time an idea of cultivating meat without livestock has been discussed. In 1932 Winston Churchill predicted in an essay that, “Fifty years hence we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.” Churchill’s optimistic attitude seems to have been correct!

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/dutch-scientists-grow-first-vitro-pork

There are many different sides and feelings to this phenomenon. Some positive aspects that could arise from this is that there could be eliminating contamination problems in some meats, “avoiding animal suffering by reducing the farming and killing of livestock,” and “dramatically cutting down on food-borne ailments such as mad cow disease and salmonella or germs such as swine flu, by monitoring the growth of meat in labs.” Also, livestock is responsible for taking up 70% of all agricultural land, in the event that labs become more prominent that land could be put to other used. (Choi). Another positive aspect of growing meat that I find the most promising is the idea that it could aid in eliminating world hunger!
On the other hand many ethical and moral dilemmas are being faced as this field of study. One of the main concerns I have with practice is that many jobs could be lost as a result of eliminating the need to farm animals. Other jobs that would be affected by this would include those involved in the trucking and transportation industry that consistently rely on the fact that meat needs to be transported! But I guess this study could be the way of the future, and if done correctly the pros may very well outweigh the cons!

So the question is would you eat the “meat”?







Sources
Adams, Paul. "Dutch Scientists Grow First Pork Meat In Lab". Popular Science . 12.8.09 .

Choi , Charles Q. . "Mad Science? Growing Meat Without Animals ". Live Science . 12.8.09 .

Heselmans, Marianne . "Cultivated Meat ". New Harvest. 12.8.09 .

Pilkington, Nicky . "Where's The Beef". FoodEditorials.com. 12.8.09 .

Ternes, Ellen . "Paper Says Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale". University Of Maryland. 12.8.09 .

N/A, "Meat Farms- The 50 Best Inventions of 2009". Time Magazine . 12.8.09 .