Guest guest Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/8/test_tube_burgers_by_2009.htm Test Tube Burgers by 2009? By 2009 you may be able to buy meat created from stem cells in a lab at your local supermarket. The lab-grown meat is part of a worldwide research effort geared to transform meat grown from cell cultures -- once reserved for experiments -- to a mass-market, industrial scale. Using this model, a single cell could theoretically grow enough meat to feed everyone in the world for a year. According to some, the best way to grow so much meat would be in " meat sheets, " layers of animal muscle and fat cells stretched out into sheets over edible or removable material. Depending on need, the meat could then be ground or rolled, for a thicker cut. Meat for $1,000 a Pound? Although artificial meat eliminates the need for slaughterhouses and factory farms, and could technically create healthier, fortified meats, the nutrient solutions now used to grow such meat are expensive, yielding meat at about $1,000 to $10,000 a pound. Researchers believe using plants and fungal sources for nutrients could eventually reduce costs to about $1 pound, but there is still the issue of how to " exercise " the meat, a necessity to produce a product like the real thing. Already, Dutch researchers are working on creating artificial pork meat from pig stem cells, which they believe will yield ground artificial meat suitable for burgers, sausages and more. The meat could be available in a few years, but the technology to create a high-quality steak is still a decade or more away. Wired News June 21, 2006 Dr. Mercola's Comment: Aside from the fact that lab-grown meat is unappetizing at best, time will only tell what health effects this man-made meat will reveal. It's common knowledge that the less processed a food is, say an apple, the better. Eat one apple whole, and you will be getting a decent amount of nutrients and fiber that work together synergistically (and, yes, some sugar as well). Take that same apple and extract its juice, bake it into a pie or grind it into applesauce on a mass-scale and you have another animal altogether -- one that will not be nearly as healthy as the original, and really doesn't bear much of a resemblance to it at all. Artificial lab-grown meat is just the latest of a number of high-tech foods gone wrong, many of which I've written about in the past: * Olestra * Genetically modified foods * Irradiated meat * Artificial sweeteners * Pasteurized milk The up-side to artificial meat that I can see is that it eliminates the need for factory farms. If you're not familiar with the atrocities of how most meat in this country is being raised, I suggest you read Michael Pollan's excellent article on the topic. It makes far more sense to me, though, to dedicate research to finding ways to raise real animals sustainedly and humanely (which, ironically, our ancestors did quite well) than to devote research to creating artificial animals, which could have devastating and yet unseen consequences to your health. Related Articles: FDA to Review Safety of Irradiated Foods The Six Dangers of Common Beef, and How to Avoid Them How You are Being Fooled at the Meat Counter Return to Table of Contents #817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I don't like eating anything with a face, but the three times I tried to be vegetarian, I became ill with bad colds which I could not shake off. I did do the balanced protein thing, and was very careful. Perhaps I require a regular 'fix' on the antibiotics that they feed farm animals. I think Carlton Fredericks mentioned that the foods we were fed as children caused, at various stages of bodily development, an accommodation, and so we have learned to require some of these foods - we can handle them best. Not always, I had a bad reaction to milk. I will hold judgement of this Frankin-meat. We feed livestock growth hormones and antibiotics and a mass of other chemicals. And we must remember the liver fluke eggs that they can ingest from greenery on pastures. If we could have meat with all of the nutritional constituants of meat without all the chemicals, it would seem to be a good thing. I don't think all good things are bad, its just that many 'improvements' offered to us by corporate America are created for their benefit and not ours. , " califpacific " <califpacific wrote: > > http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/8/test_tube_burgers_by_2009.htm > > > > Test Tube Burgers by 2009? > > By 2009 you may be able to buy meat created from stem cells in a lab > at your local supermarket. The lab-grown meat is part of a worldwide > research effort geared to transform meat grown from cell cultures -- > once reserved for experiments -- to a mass-market, industrial scale. > > Using this model, a single cell could theoretically grow enough meat > to feed everyone in the world for a year. According to some, the best > way to grow so much meat would be in " meat sheets, " layers of animal > muscle and fat cells stretched out into sheets over edible or > removable material. > > Depending on need, the meat could then be ground or rolled, for a > thicker cut. > > Meat for $1,000 a Pound? > > Although artificial meat eliminates the need for slaughterhouses and > factory farms, and could technically create healthier, fortified > meats, the nutrient solutions now used to grow such meat are > expensive, yielding meat at about $1,000 to $10,000 a pound. > > Researchers believe using plants and fungal sources for nutrients > could eventually reduce costs to about $1 pound, but there is still > the issue of how to " exercise " the meat, a necessity to produce a > product like the real thing. > > Already, Dutch researchers are working on creating artificial pork > meat from pig stem cells, which they believe will yield ground > artificial meat suitable for burgers, sausages and more. > > The meat could be available in a few years, but the technology to > create a high-quality steak is still a decade or more away. > > Wired News June 21, 2006 > > Dr. Mercola's Comment: > > Aside from the fact that lab-grown meat is unappetizing at best, time > will only tell what health effects this man-made meat will reveal. > > It's common knowledge that the less processed a food is, say an apple, > the better. Eat one apple whole, and you will be getting a decent > amount of nutrients and fiber that work together synergistically (and, > yes, some sugar as well). > > Take that same apple and extract its juice, bake it into a pie or > grind it into applesauce on a mass-scale and you have another animal > altogether -- one that will not be nearly as healthy as the original, > and really doesn't bear much of a resemblance to it at all. > > Artificial lab-grown meat is just the latest of a number of high- tech > foods gone wrong, many of which I've written about in the past: > > * Olestra > * Genetically modified foods > * Irradiated meat > * Artificial sweeteners > * Pasteurized milk > > The up-side to artificial meat that I can see is that it eliminates > the need for factory farms. If you're not familiar with the atrocities > of how most meat in this country is being raised, I suggest you read > Michael Pollan's excellent article on the topic. > > It makes far more sense to me, though, to dedicate research to finding > ways to raise real animals sustainedly and humanely (which, > ironically, our ancestors did quite well) than to devote research to > creating artificial animals, which could have devastating and yet > unseen consequences to your health. > > > > Related Articles: > > FDA to Review Safety of Irradiated Foods > > The Six Dangers of Common Beef, and How to Avoid Them > > How You are Being Fooled at the Meat Counter > > Return to Table of Contents #817 > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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