Artificial Meat

Artificial Meat

Due to the high cost of farming, research has been commenced to reduce the cost of farming by growing meat in a laboratory. An article on bbc by David Cohen explained the current research on growing meat in vitro using stem cells taken from animals. Professor Mark Post has been given 300,000 euros to make a hamburger in a year without using meat from an animal. He used muscle stem cells called myosatellites which are used in the body to repair any tissue that has been damaged. The cells are harvested from animals. Cells from cows and pigs have been very difficult to grow in vitro, according to Professor Post, “For some reason, we can’t do it…”. These muscle cells when they are grown, need to be exercised or put through the same strain as the normal muscle cells from these animals go through so that they can develop into the same type of cell as it would be in vivo. Unfortunately, the cells grown by the professor only grow to be about 3 cm long and a couple millimeters thick which therefore loses the purpose of the meat growing. One major problem that the professor has about the meat is that it does not taste the same as the meat from the animal itself. They cannot yet figure out what brings about the taste of the meat, so their meat according to a journalist who tasted it is “chewy and tasteless”.

Reference

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15402552