RE: Lab-Grown Chicken Nuggets Soon To Be Served In High-End Restaurants

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RE: Lab-Grown Chicken Nuggets Soon To Be Served In High-End Restaurants

xvickx in #food • 6 years ago

Who knows what processes are used to make lab grown "meat"? Does it contain the same minerals, fats, and enzymes as real animal parts, and if so, which parts?

According to their information, this is done by using cultured stem cells. So they take a biopsy of an animal, get the number of cells to grow so the product "expands", and then they have a mass of tissue. However, that tissue doesn't have the texture or flavor of actual animal meat because the product is not actual meat, it's basically a mass of cells, i.e., a lab-made tumor of animal cells. That's not very appetizing.

As for the ranchers, of course they have a right to protect their product. If lab grown meat can be labeled and sold as "chicken" or "beef" without any identifier of it's origin, we know have no ability to choose what we're actually consuming. Clearly they deserve protection from being forced out of business by corporate entities whose working relations with the FDA allow them an upper-hand in how this new "meat" is marketed and sold. Crafty wording such as "all natural" has been known to confuse and trick consumers into thinking something actually comes directly from natural sources. Meat tumors grown in a petri-dish are far from natural, regardless of if the source for their lab process is a living cell.

Lastly, I find it extremely hard to believe that this "meat" will hold any of the actual nutritional value (aside from empty proteins/calories) that real meats contain. There are chemical and biological processes that are required in order for "meat" to develop it's specific characteristics and qualities.

Barf.. Farming is sustainable, but the proper methods are less profitable and that's why we see these ideas. How many natural animal habitats are destroyed to farm soybeans so that people can say thy're not eating meat and therefore not harming animals? How many metric tons of Round-Up is the earth absorbing when all those soybean fields are sprayed, and what percentage of glyphosate and other nero-toxic pesticides are reaching our groundwater? How many toxic industrial byproducts are created during the process of lab-grown meat? Does any of it really pan out? Is this really a solution for humanity or is it a solution for stupid humans to cling to while the manufacturers count money?

6 years ago in #food by xvickx

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distantsignal 6 years ago

While I also wonder about the taste and nutrients, those are all things that can probably be overcome. I don’t agree that ranchers deserve protection for their product in the way they describe it. If it’s meat, it’s meat. They should be able to call it meat. Whether they call it “all-natural” or “organic” is another matter. It fits the definition of meat, so no, the ranchers can’t - and probably won’t - be able to force the government to have cultured meat not be called meat. What the ranchers are trying to do here is use the government to destroy a new technology that will probably be quite beneficial to humanity and the environment. Established interests do this all the time and they can’t be allowed to.

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xvickx 6 years ago

I respectfully disagree that ranchers are trying to use the government to destroy new technology. Rather, they're voicing valid concerns along the same lines of farmers 20 years ago who were concerned about Monsanto, and look where that's lead us.... Not toward a healthier future, and not towards larger profits for farmers.

If anything, the new technology would destroy ranchers, and while it may not be intentional, the government will lean in their favor if lab-produced meat is more profitable. This is assuming that we're all in understanding about government and FDA being in the business of profits - not health, morality, or the well-being of society.

I am not against new technology or anything that benefits humanity.. But if we ask ourselves why is this technology gaining traction while water/air/waste-fueled vehicles do not? Because of money, power, and influence. The ranchers have a right to be scared, the establishment will run them into the ground and in 15 years "real meat" will be seen as just as much of a "threat to public safety" as raw milk.

Maybe I'm paranoid but I could see this being an in way to declare that real meat is unsafe and un-hygenic, while only lab-grown meat is FDA approved to produce and sell. The only "Established interest" in this situation are those with the biggest ties to the investors and developers of this lab meat. If it's more profitable than ranching, it will destroy ranching regardless of whether it's healthy or not.

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distantsignal 6 years ago

I’m not sure if you’ve seen industrial meat farming, but it isn’t sanitary and can border on cruelty. Some use bleach to wash the meat and pump them full of antibiotics. I don’t care if industrial cattle ranchers go out of business. It’s probably about time. I do think that if ranchers still want to farm cattle using the traditional methods that’s fine , but they don’t deserve protection.

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xvickx 6 years ago

Absolutely, industrial meat farming is pretty disgusting and I've seen it all, no argument about that. Traditional methods is what I'm getting at, I should have clarified. I just worry when these kind of new food technologies come around, as the USDA has a tendency to favor them, even against the warnings of their own scientists . Always about money.

If society were more willing to promote traditional farming and the purchase of local foods, we'd be in a better position but that's become harder and harder to do thanks to ridiculous regulations. Also, prices are higher for traditionally farmed meat, and thanks to our flawed system, people rely on industrially farmed foods to survive. I suppose what's seen as progress is not always a good thing, nor reversible. I for one simply don't want to eat any kind of meat grown in a lab, however, I'm not in favor of the industrial methods either.

I am trying to find more info about the potential problems with lab-grown meat but there's not enough info out there yet as it's a rather new and protected process.

This other article published yesterday by @doitvoluntarily is good, too - in regards to failure of foresight.

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