Doctors and nutrition scientists have long warned us about the potential dangers of meat. The over-consumption of animal fats – especially red meat – has been linked to such problems as obesity, heart disease, and cancer; and the harvesting of livestock puts a serious strain on the environment. So beyond limiting one’s meat intake (and following food journalist Michael Pollan’s advice to “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”), what’s a burger-loving person to do?

As it turns out, the future of your Thanksgiving feast might just lie in a test tube. Taking cues from medical tissue engineering, scientists are now finding ways to grow beef, pork, and poultry in the lab. They accomplish this using myoblasts– a type of pre-muscle cell – or stem cells culled from livestock and possibly fish as well. After two weeks of being submersed in a nutrient-rich, blood-like medium and stretched to encourage growth, the muscle fiber would be ready to harvest.

“In-vitro” meat has the potential to solve many issues that plague the current agricultural system, both moral and ecological. Along with reducing animal suffering and contamination problems, lab-grown meat would also greatly diminish the environmental impact of livestock. Currently these herds and factory farms hog about 30% of the world’s land surface and are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases – that’s more than all trucks, cars and planes put together.

While test tube turkey may sound ideal, the technology to produce it won’t be viable for at least 5 to 10 years.

That’s why non-profits like New Harvest are popping up to help advance the science and to make it more cost-efficient. Jason Matheny, co-founder and director of New Harvest says that they aim to help “satisfy the growing global demand for meat in a way that’s healthier, more energy-efficient, and sustainable.”

Filed under: Agricultural, Biomedical, e-News

Tags: Agricultural, Biomedical