It has been predicted that by 2050 the world’s meat consumption will have doubled due to a forever increasing population and that eventually there won’t be enough meat to feed everyone. Not to worry though, scientists have been working diligently on producing a solution to this problem. Using stem cell research, scientists have been working on growing test- tube meat. Scientist claim that in about a year, test-tube beef, or ‘in vitro’ meat, will be coming out.
This new invention would end the need to slaughter animals. By extracting stem cells from a live animal, meat could be produced in a lab. 50,000 tons of meat could be produced in a period of two months just by extracting 10 stem cells from an animal and letting them multiply in a lab, according to Utrecht University researchers. This method would definitely compensate for the worlds future lack for livestock verses mouths to feed. “I don’t see any way you could rely on old-fashioned livestock in the coming decades,” said Mark Post, the professor of physiology that is behind the project.
‘In vitro’ meat has yet to be tasted and Post says that if no one comes forward to taste it then he would have to. Scientists in 2009 from the same university grew strips of pork using the same method and admitted that it did not taste too good, but eventually test-tube meat might be are only choice. Another upside to ‘in vitro’ meat that an Oxford University study found is that apparently lab grown meat would use 98 per cent less land, 35-60 per cent less energy and produce 80-95 per cent less greenhouse gas than conventional farming.
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[…] My real food-lovin’ blood froze. But I managed to smile & say, “Wow. That’s amazing.” (It is amazing: How did they manage to so fully denature a pig? Lab-grown meat?) […]