Lab Burgers - yay or nay?

[Saint-Armstrong]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143

 

 

Have to say, I didn't have a reaction to it like some of the people they showed on the news.

 

Seemed dead set against it, regardless of trying it or seeing what it is like.

 

How would others feel about this? Have to say from the little I have seen and know from the news, it seems like a good idea to me and I'd like to try it.

 

£200k for that first burger though. Jeez.

 

Interesting though...

[SuperMikey]

If the process can be refined in terms of cost-effectiveness and expanded to an industrial scale then I think it could be absolutely revolutionary.

 

There is a little nagging voice expressing doubts about the "meat", however with all the sh!t that people eat on a daily basis in stuff like sausages, burgers etc then it's not that different.

 

If I was offered it to try I would definitely go for it.

[Hatch]

thought McDonalds had been doing something similar for years anyway

[pap]

This is a massive development, although a potentially worrying one. It could mean the end of small scale suppliers in the food industry. Lab-grown food takes the farmer out of the loop, and will leave big corp in the position where they control the food industry soup-to-nuts.

[sussexsaint]

Meat as a means of feeding us as a growing population is not sustainable, meat is also extremely inefficient resource wise to produce.

 

Its an exciting first step

[badgerx16]

.....and will leave big corp in the position where they control the food industry soup-to-nuts.

 

Next stop - Soylent Green ?

[pap]

Next stop - Soylent Green ?

 

Who knows, but our food chain, much like anything else, will become a hell of a lot more complex. Taken collectively, that is a vast amount of trust and power invested in a comparatively small number of companies. Players like Monsanto, who already control vast portions of the food industry, are the sort of companies that will benefit.

[Bearsy]

This is sick yo! I will never eat dog!

[sussexsaint]

This is sick yo! I will never eat dog!

 

 

I bet you have Bearsy my friend, I bet you have.

[Bearsy]

.

[Colinjb]

Considering the crap that goes into many processed burgers this could be a great way to ensure sustainability of production and quality.

[Sheaf Saint]

One of the biggest problems facing mankind in the coming decades is the need for ever-more agricultural land to provide food for a growing population. As Sussex Saint has already commented, the production of meat (particularly beef) is an incredibly inefficient process, and the amount of land given over to grazing and growing soya for cattle feed could provide ten times as much food energy if we cut out the middleman/cow and just eat the vegetables directly. So in that respect, I think this latest development is very significant. Personally, I have no problem eating food grown in a lab - I'm used to already due to my girlfriend being veggie and cooking a lot with quorn.

 

However, pap raises an important point: that this could potentially lead to too much power over our food chain being given to giant bio-tech corporations like monstrous-Monsanto (the company that is so greedy and power-mad that it wants to get an EU patent on broccoli, meaning that all farmers everywhere would need to pay them a licence-fee for the right to grow it.) The answer to this lies in the hands of the consumer. People need to be educated as to where there food comes from and what impact it has, so that the average Joe can make choices about what food products we buy. I appreciate this is far easier said than done, because the single most important thing that people care about when food-shopping is price; asking people to pay more than they need to in order to take power away from giant food producers is like asking a dog not to bark.

 

As the global population grows (projected to reach 9 billion before 2050), agricultural land becomes more scarce and valuable, and the extreme weather effects of climate change affect crops, food prices are going to rocket and many people will be thrust into real poverty - the kind that we simply are not used to in the western world. If we want to avoid the worst consequences of this then we all need to make some big changes to our dietary habits. Everybody will have to drastically reduce their levels of meat consumption so that the world's farmers can give more land over to growing fruit and vegetables for direct consumption by humans instead of for animal feed. People need to start buying locally-grown produce instead of going to the supermarket to buy goods that have been shipped half-way around the world before arriving on the shelf.

 

Whether or not you are in favour of lab-grown meat now, in 20 years time we might all be incredibly grateful for it.

[hutch]

The problem as I see it is if you only let it grow into a burger, can you really be sure that it would have grown up into a bit of prime Aberdeen Angus? I mean really sure. If you thought it might grow up to be a bit of a donkey's penis, would you still want to eat it?

[Bananaman]

this causes an ethical conundrum for me as a vegetarian

[sussexsaint]

this causes an ethical conundrum for me as a vegetarian

 

 

As a guilty carnivore it will help me and a lot of others as well

[PhilippineSaint]

this causes an ethical conundrum for me as a vegetarian

 

Why? Its still effectively meat so as a Veggie you should leave it well alone and stick to the Soya substitutes.

 

Although you can guarantee the PC brigade will be up in arms because it will be mass produced factory farming and they will want all the cells grown to be accorded the same rights as Bernard's Turkeys and the petri dishes will all have to be a certain size and have access to open spaces.

[Patrick Bateman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143

 

 

Have to say, I didn't have a reaction to it like some of the people they showed on the news.

 

Seemed dead set against it, regardless of trying it or seeing what it is like.

 

How would others feel about this? Have to say from the little I have seen and know from the news, it seems like a good idea to me and I'd like to try it.

 

£200k for that first burger though. Jeez.

 

Interesting though...

 

Well like most people, I enjoy eating animals and real meat. My first reaction to this was "urgh".

[Minty]

As noted in the article and many of the comments, in a world where we have colossal wastage and obesity on the one hand, and starvation and food poverty in others, what we actually need to do is address the supply chain issues that exist first and foremost, and technology like this shouldn't even be needed for decades, if not longer. Couple that with Bexy's excellent post above, the priorities for Governments should be obvious, but it won't happen.

[pap]

As noted in the article and many of the comments, in a world where we have colossal wastage and obesity on the one hand, and starvation and food poverty in others, what we actually need to do is address the supply chain issues that exist first and foremost, and technology like this shouldn't even be needed for decades, if not longer. Couple that with Bexy's excellent post above, the priorities for Governments should be obvious, but it won't happen.

 

My genius plan has always been to attempt to achieve small scale self-sufficiency and then scale it up.

[Bananaman]

Why? Its still effectively meat so as a Veggie you should leave it well alone and stick to the Soya substitutes.

 

Although you can guarantee the PC brigade will be up in arms because it will be mass produced factory farming and they will want all the cells grown to be accorded the same rights as Bernard's Turkeys and the petri dishes will all have to be a certain size and have access to open spaces.

 

Youre right, I wouldnt eat it. In answer to your question however; If somebody does not eat meat due to the suffering/slaughtering of animals, and that element is eradicated from the process of meat production, you can surely understand how this blurs the line somewhat.

[Cascadia Saint]

One of the biggest problems facing mankind in the coming decades is the need for ever-more agricultural land to provide food for a growing population. As Sussex Saint has already commented, the production of meat (particularly beef) is an incredibly inefficient process, and the amount of land given over to grazing and growing soya for cattle feed could provide ten times as much food energy if we cut out the middleman/cow and just eat the vegetables directly. So in that respect, I think this latest development is very significant. Personally, I have no problem eating food grown in a lab - I'm used to already due to my girlfriend being veggie and cooking a lot with quorn.

 

However, pap raises an important point: that this could potentially lead to too much power over our food chain being given to giant bio-tech corporations like monstrous-Monsanto (the company that is so greedy and power-mad that it wants to get an EU patent on broccoli, meaning that all farmers everywhere would need to pay them a licence-fee for the right to grow it.) The answer to this lies in the hands of the consumer. People need to be educated as to where there food comes from and what impact it has, so that the average Joe can make choices about what food products we buy. I appreciate this is far easier said than done, because the single most important thing that people care about when food-shopping is price; asking people to pay more than they need to in order to take power away from giant food producers is like asking a dog not to bark.

 

As the global population grows (projected to reach 9 billion before 2050), agricultural land becomes more scarce and valuable, and the extreme weather effects of climate change affect crops, food prices are going to rocket and many people will be thrust into real poverty - the kind that we simply are not used to in the western world. If we want to avoid the worst consequences of this then we all need to make some big changes to our dietary habits. Everybody will have to drastically reduce their levels of meat consumption so that the world's farmers can give more land over to growing fruit and vegetables for direct consumption by humans instead of for animal feed. People need to start buying locally-grown produce instead of going to the supermarket to buy goods that have been shipped half-way around the world before arriving on the shelf.

 

Whether or not you are in favour of lab-grown meat now, in 20 years time we might all be incredibly grateful for it.

 

Amazing post, I agree with all of it.

[Viking Warrior]

Just seen a news report about this burger . If it ever goes into production . It would help the environment . As there would not be a requirement for millions of cattle to be produced there the amount of methane would be significantly reduced . And green house gases being reduced by over 59% also animal welfare problems would be next to nothing as there would no longer be a need for mased produced cattle .

 

What the spokesperson forgot to mentiom por answer was what would happen to redundant farmers and all those along the food chain process . There are some numpty s in this world

[Whitey Grandad]

Neigh.

[Chicken With A Banjo]

It's ok, I'm sure you'll only have to eat it if you shop in poor people shops, like Sainsburys, Tescos, Asda, pizza hut and morrisons.