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(Author's note: I
debated whether to post this today; it's not exactly keeping in tone
with the earlier pieces. I decided, however, that at a time when
reality is almost too much to bear, a bit of surreality is useful.)
"Faux" meat biologically identical to real tissue but grown in the
lab is something of a staple in science fiction. In January,
researchers at the University of Manchester, UK, came up with a
method of using ink-jet printer technology to build animal tissue
structures, including differentiated skin, bones and organs. I
referred to them as "meat-jet" printers, and argued that they could
be the harbinger of the future emergence a new kind of cuisine:
cruelty-free, waste-free, prion-free meats grown in the lab. Little
did I know how rapidly this scenario might come about.
In the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, researchers describe
methods of mass-producing "cultured" meats: muscle tissues with the
same taste, nutrients and texture of "real" meat, grown under
controlled conditions in the lab. This wouldn't be fake meat made
from processed vegetables, it would be cellularly identical to the
flesh from livestock -- but no animal would be killed for its
production. (The article itself is under a subscription barrier The
article is now available online, and a detailed summary is available
here.)
The researchers -- from the US and the Netherlands -- aren't just
talking about theory. They've started a non-profit company called
New Harvest to develop cultured meat.
The production of such "cultured meat" begins by taking a number of
cells from a farm animal and proliferating them in a nutrient—rich
medium. Cells
are capable of multiplying so many times in culture that, in theory,
a single cell could be used to produce enough meat to feed the
global population for a year. After the cells are multiplied, they
are attached to a sponge-like "scaffold" and soaked with nutrients.
They may also be mechanically stretched to increase their size and
protein content. The resulting cells can then be harvested,
seasoned, cooked, and consumed as a boneless, processed meat, such
as sausage, hamburger, or chicken nuggets. Setting aside the
vaguely-discomfiting visuals of growing hamburger in vats, cultured
meat actually has some distinct advantages.
"There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat," [project
leader University of Maryland doctoral student Jason] Matheny said
in a statement. "For one thing, you could control the nutrients."
Meat is high in omega-6 fatty acid, which is desirable, but not in
large amounts. Healthful omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in
walnuts and fish oils, could be substituted.
"Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from
raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on
animals raised for meat," Matheny said.
Raising livestock requires million of gallons of water and hundreds
of acres of land. Meat grown from tissue would bypass those
requirements.
But perhaps most important would be the significant reduction in
greenhouse gases that would result from moving away from
livestock-based food production. In this month's Physics World, Dr.
Alan Calverd argues that over 20% of human-caused CO2 comes from
livestock farming. (This figure doesn't include the methane
production from livestock, which also contributes to greenhouse gas
buildup.) He suggests a global move to vegetarianism as a way to
combat global warming. For
those who can't give up their burgers and chicken, cultured meat
would be a nearly-as-climate-conscious alternative.
New Harvest is still studying cultured meat's nutritional and
production issues. It may take a few
years before they have something they can bring to market (or at
least make available for testing), but in terms of the technology,
there's every reason to think that tasty,
indistinguishable-from-"real" cultured meat will be possible to
make. The question is, will people buy it?
I think so. Many (most?) of us already experience meat only in the
cleaned, sliced and packaged format, where it looks nothing like the
animal from which it came. Cultured meats would (presumably) be no
different in appearance than other processed meats, and would have
distinct health and safety advantages. And, eventually, even a cost
advantage: the factories to grow cultured meats would take up far
less space and far fewer resources than livestock ranches, and
traditional ranching is likely to come under increasing economic
pressure due to the effects of climate disruption.
Cultured meat is one of those developments that seems almost too
bizarre to be real, but could have significant world changing
implications. Will we embrace its advantages? With New Harvest on
the job, we may soon find out. |
