This Breakthrough in Lab-Grown Meat Could Make it Look Like Real Flesh

Scientists at Harvard have created a texture in meat grown in a lab close to the actual animal meat we're used to. Would you eat it?

Human meat consumption is bad for the planet—livestock raised for food makes up for approximately 14-18% of our greenhouse gas emissions, and the land requirements to grow their food is responsible for nearly 80% of all deforestation in the Amazon.

80%!

So scientists have been working to create a realistic imitation for animal meat in a lab, and with a recent breakthrough researchers from Harvard have come one step closer to making lab-grown meat taste and feel like the real deal.

How?

Gelatin.

The researchers were trying to mimic skeletal muscle tissue in long thin fibers. And you can’t grow muscle cells in that fiber structure in a petri dish all by themselves—the cells need something to latch onto as they grow.

That is where the gelatin comes in, the material had to be edible, cheap, and something cells could attach to.

While the creation of muscles in lab-grown meat is a step in the right direction, lab-made meat is still very much so a work in progress.

Find out more about the quest to create lab-grown meat on this episode of Elements.

#Meat #Lab #FoodScience #Sustainability #Food #Seeker #Science #Elements

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Real texture for lab-grown meat
"“The materials-science expertise of the chefs was impressive,” said Parker. “After discussions with them, I began to wonder if we could apply all that we knew about regenerative medicine to the design of synthetic foods. After all, everything we have learned about building organs and tissues for regenerative medicine applies to food: healthy cells and healthy scaffolds are the building substrates, the design rules are the same, and the goals are the same: human health. This is our first effort to bring hardcore engineering design and scalable manufacturing to the creation of food.”

The race to make a lab-grown steak
"In October 2018 a study in Nature found that we will need to change our diets significantly if we’re not to irreparably wreck our planet’s natural resources. “Without changes toward more plant-based diets,” says Marco Springmann, a researcher in environmental sustainability at the University of Oxford and the lead author of the Nature paper, “there is little chance to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.”

The clean meat industry is racing to ditch its reliance on foetal blood
"But the clean meat industry has a messy problem. None of the major players have managed to grow meat without using animal serum – a blend of growth-inducing proteins usually made from the blood of animals. The most popular is foetal bovine serum (FBS), a mixture harvested from the blood of foetuses excised from pregnant cows slaughtered in the dairy or meat industries. FBS contains a cocktail of proteins that make it ideally-suited for helping all kinds of animal cells grow and duplicate. “That’s why it’s a miracle juice, it’s got a protein for everyone,” says Michael Selden, CEO of lab-grown fish startup Finless Foods. Other animal serums work for one or two cell types, but FBS is a natural all-rounder."

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[germanjimenez]

If lab meat is pretty much the same chemicals, I see no reason to avoid it. I am looking forward to a slaughter free meat in the future!

[GiordieMK]

If the cost is the same, the taste is the same, the texture is the same, what's the problem? Let's hope it can be done cost effective.

[Master_Therion]

I hope the livestock industry doesn't create a stigma against lab-grown meat.
Meat made in a Petri dish should be seen as... cultured.

[oceanics.]

If lab grown meat tastes the same I would 100% instantly jump to it. Slaughter free and completely humane meat which cuts down on the environmental issues we face today is something everyone should get on board with. It’s the same cells and the same flavor so why the hell not?

[MonkeyBoyKHS]

Hell yeah I'd eat it. Everything I eat already come from a factory, what's the difference? If it's indistinguishable from meat, *then it's meat*

[kashmir]

If it's fake meat, but tastes good, and it's cheap, then idc - I'm eating it

[A-Duck]

If it was indistinguishable from genuine meat in flavour and texture, had similar or identical affect on health and nutrition, and was similarly priced, then there is absolutely no justification for not choosing lab grown. In fact, at that point it's objectively immoral to eat meat harvested from an animal.

[sharonnota]

I would most definitely eat clean, cruelty-free, planet-friendly lab-grown meat, and invest in it as well. Thank for the update.

[TastyTarco]

This would be important for space missions in the future

[justarandomguy]

If it's safe, healthy, tasty, and un-slaughterd than why not.
I'm gonna eat it.

[akashdeepkundu]

I'm ready to give up slaughter food.

[Stray]

i'd love some lab grown meat, given that it tastes like normal meat and isn't too far off in texture

[alangebhardtsbauer]

If it demonstrably reduces our carbon footprint I would eat the product if it tastes 80% as good as real meat. Whatever that means.

[sebastianelytron]

I really hope this can help me get over my deli meat addiction. I want to quit cold turkey.

[ananasupreme]

"I can't believe it's not Bacon!©"

[theperuvianX]

Well is either this, or bug burgers in the foreseeable future.

[sussekind]

Come on scientists, we believe in you!

[tabletopjam]

Hell, if it tastes like beef and looks like beef but didn’t come from a cow, I would eat it without a second thought, however, I feel like lab grown beef is going to have quirks to it about cooking

[danielwhyatt]

It’s good to see they’re finally getting the muscle fibre problem sorted. That was definitely one of the stopping points for me. It’s not really helpful to have the same taste of the texture isn’t the same. We’ve just got to make sure, like he says in the video, when we are actually growing this meat we aren’t creating the same amount of pollution and use of space as the regular meet industry does. After all, all this meat still has to be grown somewhere. We might just be switching out one problem for another. Especially if we are wanting this to be done on the mass production level everyone’s desiring.

[Cheezymuffin.]

if it tastes like meat, looks like meat, has the same nutritional value as meat, and is cheaper than current meat, I'll eat it.