mcsblues
Sun, Aug-14-05, 18:28
Mmm … chops for tea, fresh from the lab
By Ian Sample in London
August 15, 2005
It could be the ultimate conundrum for vegetarians: fresh meat grown from animal cells without a single cow, sheep or pig being killed.
Researchers have published details of how lumps of meat would be cultured in laboratory vats rather than carved from livestock reared on a farm.
Scientists have adapted the medical technique of tissue engineering, where individual cells are multiplied into whole tissues, and applied it to food production.
"With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply," Jason Matheny, an agricultural scientist at the University of Maryland, said in the journal Tissue Engineering.
Researchers said meat grown in laboratories would be more environment-friendly and could be tailored to be healthier than farm-reared meat by controlling its nutrient content and screening it for food-borne diseases.
Vegetarians might also be tempted because the cells needed could be taken without harming the donor animal.
Mr Matheny and his colleagues have taken the prospect of "cultured meat" a step further by working out how to produce it on an industrial scale. They envisage muscle cells growing on huge sheets that would be regularly stretched to exercise the cells as they grow. Once enough cells had grown, they would be scraped off and shaped into processed meat products such as chicken nuggets.
"If you didn't stretch them, you would be eating mush," Mr Matheny said. However, tasty and textured cuts are a long way off.
Kerry Bennett, of Britain's Vegetarian Society, will not be tempted, but said "if they're going to make chicken nuggets with it, then it's probably not going to taste much different".
The Guardian
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/fresh-from-the-lab/2005/08/14/1123957949746.html
By Ian Sample in London
August 15, 2005
It could be the ultimate conundrum for vegetarians: fresh meat grown from animal cells without a single cow, sheep or pig being killed.
Researchers have published details of how lumps of meat would be cultured in laboratory vats rather than carved from livestock reared on a farm.
Scientists have adapted the medical technique of tissue engineering, where individual cells are multiplied into whole tissues, and applied it to food production.
"With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply," Jason Matheny, an agricultural scientist at the University of Maryland, said in the journal Tissue Engineering.
Researchers said meat grown in laboratories would be more environment-friendly and could be tailored to be healthier than farm-reared meat by controlling its nutrient content and screening it for food-borne diseases.
Vegetarians might also be tempted because the cells needed could be taken without harming the donor animal.
Mr Matheny and his colleagues have taken the prospect of "cultured meat" a step further by working out how to produce it on an industrial scale. They envisage muscle cells growing on huge sheets that would be regularly stretched to exercise the cells as they grow. Once enough cells had grown, they would be scraped off and shaped into processed meat products such as chicken nuggets.
"If you didn't stretch them, you would be eating mush," Mr Matheny said. However, tasty and textured cuts are a long way off.
Kerry Bennett, of Britain's Vegetarian Society, will not be tempted, but said "if they're going to make chicken nuggets with it, then it's probably not going to taste much different".
The Guardian
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/fresh-from-the-lab/2005/08/14/1123957949746.html