Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Startups raising funds to produce meat from cells cultivated in bioreactors.
Several startups are racing to be the first to fill U.S. consumers’ plates with laboratory-developed hamburgers and sausages that taste just as good as the kind from cattle and pigs. In 3-4 years, they want to be the first to sell meat grown from animal cells in steel tanks.
However, some in the meat industry are skeptical that consumers, many of whom are demanding “natural” or organic food made without additives or genetically modified ingredients, will embrace meat grown from animal cells.
Startups raising funds to produce meat from cells cultivated in bioreactors.
Several startups are racing to be the first to fill U.S. consumers’ plates with laboratory-developed hamburgers and sausages that taste just as good as the kind from cattle and pigs. In 3-4 years, they want to be the first to sell meat grown from animal cells in steel tanks.
However, some in the meat industry are skeptical that consumers, many of whom are demanding “natural” or organic food made without additives or genetically modified ingredients, will embrace meat grown from animal cells.
For some reason it just doesn't seem quite right. I guess in generations to come and the younger set is raised not knowing any difference it will just be the norm. For me, I like the way it is now. Of course we can look back on the changes in the past 50 or 75 years to see what has happened. Our grandkids and great grandkids would be shocked to know how things were just that many years ago
I can see why scientists were motivated to research and complete the lab burger:
-51% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture
-2/3rds of all agricultural land is used to feed live stock (only 8% for humans)
-has serious environmental effects on grasslands, excess runoff from fertilizer/animal waste, soil
erosion...
-and just one pound of beef uses 1,800 gallons of water.
By 2050: Food shortages could turn the world vegetarian by 2050, warn leading scientists | Daily Mail Online
Exactly what jim9251 said. I also find it difficult to fathom that there wouldn't be any local (or US raised) cattle - at least in my lifetime. I can't imagine that this would be a draw to a large enough segment of the population to EVER become the norm. Then again, as I've proven time and time again, I can be quite adept at being wrong.
.........-2/3rds of all agricultural land is used to feed live stock (only 8% for humans)............
I wouldn't have any problems eating it, except that in tests so far, the consensus of opinion is that it is flavorless. Maybe it will end up that the wealthy can eat flavorful natural beef and the poor masses will eat flavorless protein jelly.
About this business of 2/3 of agricultural land being used to feed livestock, 2/3 of agricultural land is not suitable to grow food for humans. Humans don't eat grass and they don't eat alfalfa. Humans don't eat bunch grass, and they don't eat grain fines.
Not many people want to eat milo or corn silage.
You can't grow nice pretty fruit on the type of lands where those above mentioned crops are grown. Those are plants that grow on marginal land or grow in marginal weather.
The USA is already a food exporting country. It appears to me that we don't need any more than 1/3 of the farmland to feed us and half of the rest of the world.
If anyone is so worried about farmland use, maybe they ought to be thinking about all the high quality farmland paved over for houses and all the farms turned into useless dust by water being reserved for sucker fish and then used for landscaping before the farmers are allowed to use any of it.
About this business of 2/3 of agricultural land being used to feed livestock, 2/3 of agricultural land is not suitable to grow food for humans. Humans don't eat grass and they don't eat alfalfa. Humans don't eat bunch grass, and they don't eat grain fines.
Not many people want to eat milo or corn silage.
You can't grow nice pretty fruit on the type of lands where those above mentioned crops are grown. Those are plants that grow on marginal land or grow in marginal weather.
The USA is already a food exporting country. It appears to me that we don't need any more than 1/3 of the farmland to feed us and half of the rest of the world.
If anyone is so worried about farmland use, maybe they ought to be thinking about all the high quality farmland paved over for houses and all the farms turned into useless dust by water being reserved for sucker fish and then used for landscaping before the farmers are allowed to use any of it.
You are picking and choosing only one part of my post. Live stock production is a GLOBAL problem not only here in the US. It affects everyone. Animal agriculture is the primary driver of deforestation, water consumption, pollution, greenhouse gases and topsoil erosion throughout the WORLD. Example,
what's happening in the Amazon effects everyone (cutting down the rain forest to raise cows).
I occasionally eat meat - I am simply pointing out a problem that people and scientists are very
concerned about for the future of our planet and its people.
About the same way as I feel about "self-driving cars" -- an attractive bit of "pseudo-science" that probably has a portion of substance, but is going to need a lot of refinement before it can be adapted to a mass-market.
In the end, it's going to turn on a lot of issues and trade-offs; the biggest being whether possibly better-controlled conditions of production and lower cost of materials give "cultured meat" an advantage in price -- and whether a difference in quality is readily discernible; if so, look for the usual controversies, given our nation's polarization on just about any issue.
The article is from a mainstream publication, rather than the "junk journalism" found at supermarket checkouts, but we'll still take a "wait-and-see" attitude.
Big question: if "cultured meat" became readily marketable. would the animal-rights and "militant vegan" crowd intensify their agenda?
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 02-15-2016 at 04:40 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
