Tube Steak

[MilesColtrane]

TEST tube, that is....


Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat
By Alexis Madrigal 04.11.08 | 2:05 PM


In five to 10 years, supermarkets might have some new products in the meat counter: packs of vat-grown meat that are cheaper to produce than livestock and have less impact on the environment.

According to a new economic analysis (.pdf) presented at this week's In Vitro Meat Symposium in Ås, Norway, meat grown in giant tanks known as bioreactors would cost between $5,200-$5,500 a ton (3,300 to 3,500 euros), which the analysis claims is cost competitive with European beef prices.

With a rising global middle class projected by the UN to double meat consumption (.pdf) by 2050, and livestock already responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gases, the symposium is drawing a variety of scientists, environmentalists and food industry experts.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/invitro_meat

Oh god, look at the accompanying picture...

I think I'm gonna.... :puke:

[Duer 157099]

1. Yummy!

Hey it's better than Soylent Green, don't you think?

Also, if you follow this line of experimentation to it's natural conclusion.... sort of makes you wonder if the human race maybe didn't start out as an experiment in food production technique, by some long-gone race -- what if they died off because they got a deadly disease from eating their "experiment"?

It could happen.

[Bucky]

2. It looks like a shellacked pancake.

God will smite all of them

[unpossibles]

5. a really tiny pancake

check the scale of the photo

[Deja Q]

3. SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:hide:

In all seriousness, this is an incredible and way-cool development.

[MilesColtrane]

6. "In all seriousness, this is an incredible and way-cool development."

Uhh....you misspelled "inedible".

[unpossibles]

4. eh, I think it's less gross and more practical than real meat

but I still wouldn't eat it.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Works for me, but I probably won't...

live to see a perfectly cooked sirloin or leg of lamb pop out of the frankenfood factory.

The burgers they speak of, though-- exactly the right amount of fat and free of extraneous matter. This sounds interesting, and I hope I get to try some.

Comments from the article, though...

"But once the meat is made, consumer acceptance is far from assured. What cultured meat will taste like is up in the air. Some scientists think it could be used to create novel foods that won't be quite meat, but won't quite be anything else either. "
<...>

"For all the talk of high-tech meat production, attendees of the first In-Vitro Meat Symposium didn't put their stomachs where their mouths were. Instead of sampling early versions of in vitro meat, they stuck to local fare.

'We had some excellent Norwegian salmon, which was very tasty," Bennett said.' "

[csziggy]

10. Just grow it in a square tube and call it SPAM

Problem is if this is used to replace hamburger - what happens to the trimmings and such that used to go into hamburger and hot dogs? And aren't hot dogs the original "tube steak"?

[ashling]

8. Gives a whole new meaning to

mystery meat

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. more of "the better living through chemistry" phenomenon...

:eyes: