My initial reaction was to wonder how they did it. This meat substitute was developed by Mark Post, a physiologist at the University of Maastricht. The muscle tissue was grown in a petri dish starting from stem cells, but these can be collected from a biopsy of a live cow. Bread crumbs, egg, salt, and pepper were also added to improve texture and taste of the patty. I am led to believe that no animals were harmed in the making of this burger.
It was taste tested by Josh Schonwald, a food writer, and Hanni Rutzler, a food researcher. They both commented that the texture was good, juicy, but missing the fatty element.
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| John Schonawld eating the burger. From nbcnews.com. |
What do you think, is this new technology of producing food (or at least hamburgers for now) have a viable future in the United States or the world? I personally think we should decrease eating of meat instead of resorting to such measure, but hopefully this semester will give me time to reflect on this issue more.
For those of you who want, here is the original article.
I found this post very interesting, Chris, from an animal-rights standpoint, a health one, and economic one, as well. I like the fact that apparently no animals are harmed in the creation of the meat. Also, I like the idea that it could cut back on factory farming, which would free up resources to produce other foods. But, there is the question of the impact on the human body of eating foods that were grown in a lab. On the one had, this is about as far from "natural" and "organic" as one can get. On the other hand, there is the idea that this meat has been exposed to fewer chemicals, because it was grown with a focus purely on the meat itself, not the animal, if that makes sense. It is easier to make the meat pure if that is the only thing involved. I wonder what kind of growth hormones, if any, are needed to make this meat? Finally, economically it is an interesting quandry. There is of course the current price tag, $330,000. Will it become cheaper? If so, that could be good for the consumer. But at the same time, how is it going to harm agriculture and the current cattle industry? So many questions, so few answers! But, it is very interesting. I am enjoying the blog!
ReplyDeleteLaura, animals may or may not be harmed when harvesting stem cell tissue from live cattle in order to grow more muscle tissue out of it. They are unclear in the article. We are a long way away until this can become a marketable option. Would you be willing to eat it?
ReplyDeleteI agree, the article is very unclear in that matter. I'd be willing to try it. To make it part of my diet everyday? Probably not. I'd like to know if there are any long-term health consequences...
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