When it comes to food, I am more regressive than progressive. I believe that my food should be recognizable as food. It should come from a natural source. I have that luxury. I live in the United States, where food choices abound, and viable agricultural land makes up much of the country. Other countries are less fortunate. People in a resource-poor nation may welcome food in whatever form it takes...even if that form is "shmeat."
What is shmeat? It is the nickname given in jest to tissue cultured meat, or lab created meat grown from animal tissue. NPR reported this morning that a usable product is close on the horizon. Vladimir Mironov, a biologist at the Medical University of South Carolina who is working to develop shmeat, claims that the technology is so close to ready, all he now needs is a market demand and venture capital to bring his mass-produced sheets of lab created meat tissue to a grocery store near you. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?
Advocates of tissue engineering claim that engineered meat could end world hunger. Jason Methany, a doctoral student working in the field, speculates, "With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply. And you could do it in a way that's better for the environment and human health. In the long term, this is a very feasible idea." He also reports that the nutrients in the meat can be controlled, making the meat more nutritious than naturally grown meat. This is potentially lifesaving for millions of people suffering nutritional deficiencies. On the other hand, how will the mass-produced meat get to the people who need it most? Look at the AIDS crisis. We have many medications in the U.S. that make the disease more of a chronic illness than a death sentence, but those meds are not available in the poor nations of Africa. They are financially out of reach for the region that needs them the most. How can we guarantee that the technology will get the food where it is needed?
But forget about people...what about the poor ANIMALS who get killed every day just to fill our bellies? PETA is a fan of shmeat. They are offering a one million dollar award to the first manufacturer and marketer of lab created chicken meat. This reminds me of a Margaret Atwood book, Oryx and Crake, but in that book, the animal rights activists try to free the lab created "Chikie Nobs," which aren't animals at all. They are lumps of lab created chicken breast, just like the product PETA is calling for. The Chickie Nob chain is a KFC-like fast food restaurant, whose best selling product is the "Chickie Nob Bucket-O-Nubbins." The animal rights activists release the lumps of flesh into the wild where they pulse away looking for nourishment until they dehydrate. In reality, PETA wants a meat alternative that doesn't hurt animals.
As you might imagine, shmeat has opponents. Whereas the creators claim lab created meat causes less pollution than raising livestock, detractors fear the energy drain of more huge manufacturing compounds. And then there's the creepiness factor. This is the most important factor for me. I said before that I want my food to be recognizable as food. Would sheets of meat tissue rolling off an assembly line still look, smell, and taste like food? Will it be safe? I am afraid to find out.
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It should look, feel, and taste just the same since it is most likely cultured/cloned originally from actual meat (muscle) cells. I like the idea, but I don't think it will end world hunger in this moment. I wouldn't eat it, since I'm a vegetarian anyways.
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I'm trying to only eat local and organic, and I think shmeat is neither!
In one of the articles, a scientist reported that they are able to make the muscle tissue, but that the texture and taste are a little different, because real meat has fat and gristle that add to the texture and flavor. I guess it isn't very palatable yet.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
You cannot create or destroy matter. Everything has a cost to make, including this lab-made meat.
What shortage will production of this stuff make?
Me? I prefer the real thing. Taking my rifle out this weekend to hit the range and get my sights adjusted.
They're probably just using some culture media, which is a mixture of water, amino acids, selected vitamins and/or minerals, and antibiotics. I would think that the impact would definitely be much less than that of raising a whole cow.
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I'm a pretty adventurous eater. I'll probably give the stuff a try.
I'll have to see more research on how the stuff is grown/manufactured. If it involves lots of hormones and antibiotics and what not I am not going to be very thrilled with putting that in my mouth.
The taste issue might be addressed with blending with real fat, at least for hamburger.
Yeah. As far as ground meat, that seems a pretty easy fix. But they're trying to come up with steaks and chicken breasts and stuff.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I'd maybe try it, this man-made meat. It would have to be reasonably natural though. If it needs a load of additives, perservatives and MSG to make it more like real food, then I won't touch the stuff.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
I wouldn't worry about the antibiotics. These are used in nearly all livestock, including free range and organic. They will actually reduce the presence of different bacteria that could be very harmful. The hormones are another story, though. Depending on the nature of the hormone, it may cause an undesired effect in humans.
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I feel very conflicted on this issue...and although PETA is endorsing it, I feel certain another activist group will feel like this living tissue qualifies as an animal and probably will try to "free" or "save" the schmeat.
wow! And here I was worried about GMO foods...schmeat is even creepier..
I think this is another great example of how we have such a large population that we are, as a species completely unsustainable; otherwise, we'd have no need for manufactured meat products.
I do hope they clearly label "real" meat verses "fake" meat in the stores in the future, so we can at least have a choice about which we eat...this freaks me out and I'll probably do my best to steer clear of "schmeat..." However, it is getting harder and harder not to eat so-called Frankinfoods...they are everywhere, even vegans are eating animal products now because animal genes have been added to strawberries and other fruit to give them different qualities they didn't have before...wow...are we living in an apocalyptic world or what?
I'm freaked...
Love ya,
Carrot
You may be more right than you think.
There is a group in Europe that is calling for 'humane' treatment of plants, saying that they are living beings and ought to have rights and not be 'slaughtered' . ..
Plants.
I could actually agree with something like that to an extent. It's not necessarily for humane reasons as it is that we have a large disregard for nature and the consequences of our actions and irresponsibility on ecosystems and biodiversity. We have a tendency to forget that you can only replace things so many times before those things simply disappear, which causes further harm. Nature and the things in nature have just as much a right to exist as do we... that our existence is dependent upon their existence should be reason enough to take a little more care, humane treatment of plants aside.
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~Fallon~
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't- A. France
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No, I mean, the group demands that we stop the 'needless decapitation' of flowers. (or something like that)
They are wanting flowers to be put on the same level as people (which, when the PETA groups started up, was the big joke. "Treat animals as though they're human? What's next? Flowers?!" . . . yup.)
They remind me of the people who hate hunting because we don't 'need to' as we can 'go to the store to get meat' . . . Utterly clueles individuals. As though it is more holy to be bludgoened to death after a life of confinement than to be killed by a predator (which is what hunting is) out in the wild. . .
Watermelons... all of them.... Sure, they're green on the outside, but they're commie red all the way through....
i know, that's why I said to an extent.
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~Fallon~
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't- A. France
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I assume they don't eat vegetables or fruit, since they want plants to have equal rights with animals and people; and I doubt they eat meat, or diary products, so what do they eat? Dirt? Or are they like that religion in India, the Janists, who only eat fruits and veggies which have fallen off of the plant because that doesn't "hurt the plant," or something along those lines...
I'm just curious...I agree to some degree with Fallon that we definitely don't give plants enough respect...
Love ya,
Carrot
I wouldn't call eating a strawberry with animal genes eating an animal product. Extracting DNA can be done without killing the organism. DNA is also found in plants, so I don't have a problem with it. The modification isn't giving the plant animallike characteristics.
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Eh, but a good number of us vegetarians are trying to steer away from any genetically engineered foods...
In my opinion, genetic engineering is just creepy...
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
The Story of Myself
I guess it just depends. I understand the process, so I don't have a problem with it. Then again, some people claim to understand it and are still creeped out.
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That's pretty much where I'm coming from with this. I just think food should come from a natural source and not a lab.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
How can we guarantee that the technology will get the food where it is needed?
Quite outside of getting the schmeat to where it is needed is dealing with the red tape and road blocks that appear once the schmeat has made it there. Some of the countries that are most in need refuse to allow GMO's... I find it doubtful that they'll have a change of heart where lab grown meat is concerned. I likely wouldn't either. It's just too weird for my uber picky habits.
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~Fallon~
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't- A. France
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So this stuff is like human dog food???
EWW. Yeah, like i have said before,
after seeing "I Am Legend". I trust nothing new.
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The meat could be less contaiminated, but I wouldn't trust this so much. Someone could get pissed off and it may be more deadly than it is now because they could engineer something deadly. I also like food to look like food. hmm. I don't know
http://www.progressiveu.org/032913-lupus-uncureable-wait-what
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I don't know if I would try it. Maybe after it had been on the market for a few years. I don't think I would ever be able to trade in my steak, though!
Question for all of you who said you wouldn't eat it...
Would you accept a heart transplant that was made in the lab?
~C
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If I had to have a transplant, and a donor couldn't be found and my choice was to accept a lab created one or die, I think I would take the lab created one, but it would still creep me out a bit,
When we're talking about food, we're talking about something we don't HAVE to choose to eat (yet. We may have to if we destroy everything natural). The transplant is a last ditch effort to stay alive. Food is something I choose to put into my body, so why would I choose the frankenfood?
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
The grown organ might be better for you than a transplant. They could potentially (they're right on the verge of it now) grow one from your very cells, which means a 0 chance of rejection, and you wouldn't need to take immuno-suppressants the rest of your life to keep the organ.
The downfall, of course, would be that it might be your own body that caused the failure of the organ in the first place, and so replacing it with a copy wouldn't do much in the long run.
It's basically the same concept, though. Think about it... if they can grow a working heart, then there's no reason that they couldn't grow a chicken's muscle (which is all that meat is). The only downfall is that you wouldn't have the natural fat present unless you grew that as well. There would be very little difference between that muscle and the one from the live chicken otherwise.
~C
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I just can't get the image of the pulsating Chickie Nobs out of my head. *shudder*
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
After this statement, I don't know if I'll even be able to eat meat again...
-Sonja
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
Likely not. But then, I likely wouldn't accept a heart transplant in the first place if I needed one. When it's my time to go, it's my time to go.
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~Fallon~
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't- A. France
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I wouldn't eat anything grown in a lab, and I don't think I'd really even consider having an organ transplant... I'm not a big fan of the way science is going right now, honestly. I prefer the natural order of things, for the most part...
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
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The Story of Myself
We still don't even understand the natural order of things! There's a lot of research going on with the sole objective of discovering exactly how life works. Not all science is bad or creepy.
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I know that. But messing with the genetics of the stuff we eat... that I find very creepy.
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
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The Story of Myself
That creeps me out a little bit as well.
But, if it looks, smells, feels, and tastes like actual meat, and makes my salmon less than $9 a pound, I might be willing to give it a try. Or I might not. I don't know. I guess I'll find out when I'm actually looking at it in a store.
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Read Oryx and Crake. Fa Realz.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I wonder what the price implications would be. Hiring a scientist to develop it isn't exactly cheap. I would think that it would start out being more expensive, then be very cheap once the process was perfected so that a technician could do the work.
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If we use our resources correctly, considering this high-tech "food" as a cure for world hunger is an utterly ridiculous way to spend our resources. There is enough food to feed the world, but, as EW said in her blog, it's a matter of getting those resources to the people who need them the most. The reason this reminded us of Chick-e-knobs and Bucket-o-nubbins is becuase that is exactly who is going to snatch up this technology. Fast food conglomerates who don't care what their food tastes like, just that it is produced more cheaply and more quickly so as to beat out last quarters earnings.
NPR reported that the producers of Schmeat claim it is more environmentally friendly (hell, even PETA is claiming this) but if you think about the size and scope of the factories required to make Schmeat-- to keep the giant vats of cultured cells at just the right temperature, to process, and then ship the Schmeat-- that's a lot of fossil fuels.
Also, cultured cells like this don't remain viable for long. They quickly mutate and become unusable so the "one cell to feed all" theory is bunk.
I don't think that the schientists will grow schmeat with schbrains or schentral nervous schystems, so the schmeat won't be able to pulsche away and schdehydrate. Scho I don't think that Oryx and Crake is a very schaccurate schdystopia.
meat, schmeat, s'all the same. lol! what a great name!
As all science fiction is. That's what makes it interesting. It's like the difference between couture collections and ready-to-wear.
I think the animal activist bit was for comedy, but the hybrid species, genetic modifications, animals with 9 extra organs...not so far off.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
As a big sci-fi reader, I've read this scenario many times. If we keep our population going at the rate that it continues to grow, it will likely be the only viable protein source anyway. That's interesting that PETA supports it. I know there is a lot of fear around genetically manufactured foods. It is really a matter of inevitability - like cloning. It doesn't make it perfect or right, simply inevitable I think.
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"I know there is a lot of fear around genetically manufactured foods"
You might want to reword this. It made me think of foods that were manufactured using genetics. All foods are the result of genetics, regardless of whether they were grown in vivo or in vitro.
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people are balking about the idea of consuming lab created meat. I can't say it sounds appetizing, but soy meat has been around for quite some time, and frankly, it isn't that bad. As long as the texture, smell and taste is good, what does it matter? I'm sure the FDA will be governing the production of it all.
well, this isn't much different than a skin graft, and people do that all the time.
We as people, ingest much worse things. Deliberately. Even inadvertently.
Things such as flavorings, colorings, preservatives, medications, even recreational drugs for some.Those my friends are CHEMICALS. Do you wash your fruits and veggies good before you eat them? Those things are full of pesticides. Let's not forget to mention the folks who don't properly wash their hands before they eat. EWW! it is amazing the people who do not wash their hands after using the rest room, theres usually at least one every time I go into a public rest room who doesn't wash. YUK!
I can envision farmers becoming extinct, along with their livestock if this were to actually take hold.
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I really hope it is your vision of the food industry that becomes extinct and not the farmers. I am a big fan of the rise in Community Supported Agriculture. I eat organic food, which I wash with non toxic soap before ingesting. I eat meat that is sustainable and humane. I do not eat processed crap. Food should not be manufactured. It should be grown. If you are right and this becomes the only meat available, I will go veggie again.
And a note about soy meat-- it's made into "meat" trough a cooking/manufacturing process and not through genetic maneuvering. That said, it is not any more sustainable than meat production. A factory farm is a factory farm, regardless of what it is producing. I say no thanks to all of it!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Not all chemicals are bad. Water is a chemical.
You might find my blog about food dyes interesting. I actually have an intolerance to food dyes, and while there are still only few affected by this the number is growing. Unfortunately, these dyes and fragarances are in soaps in the restroom, too. I'm one of those people that doesn't wash their hands in public restrooms. If the soap or faucet has Red 40 in it, I could die if it comes near my mouth. Other dyes cause reactions too, but this one is the worse and most pink soaps have Red40 in them.
here's my food dye blog:
http://progressiveu.org/220553-my-macaroni-dreams-have-come-end
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Hydroponic cows. Now that would be cool.
Hydroponic cows would be pretty freaking cool. I'd like to see that. I actually did a yahoo! search for hydroponic cows, and a busness called "cow hydroponics" came up. lol. It's for fertilizer. I also found this really useful, life-altering quote from one of them that came up:
Avoid anyone wearing a "Moo if you're horny!" t-shirt
source: http://www.grinningplanet.com/2003/judge-is-nuts/environmental-issue-24....
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jk
SO gross what our cows are fed. is it any surprise that that sort of a diet would foster epidemic?
http://www.worth1000.com/entries/22500/22820_w.jpg
i guess IMG tags are illegal.
They're not illegal... Are you use you were using complete HTML? Because that's the only way they'd show up....
~C
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nope it didn't. img src="http://www.worth1000.com/entries/22500/22820_w.jpg" (with <>)
Well, I don't know what I did to your comment, but I got your image working...
~C
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