In vitro meat
Encyclopedia
In vitro meat, also known as cultured meat, is an animal flesh product that has never been part of a complete, living animal.
This form of meat has been described, sometimes derisively, as "laboratory-grown" meat. In vitro meat should not be confused with imitation meat
, which is a vegetarian food
product produced from vegetable
protein
, usually from soy
or gluten
. The terms "synthetic meat" and "artificial meat" may refer to either. The original NASA research on in vitro meat was intended for use on long space
voyages or stays; it would be a sustainable food source alongside hydroponic
or aeroponically
grown vegetable
s.
Several current research projects are growing in vitro meat experimentally, although no meat has yet been produced for public consumption. As early as 2008, some scientists claimed that the technology was ready for commercial use and simply needed a company to back it. The first meats successfully grown in a lab included goldfish and lamb. Scientists at Maastricht University plan to produce sausage by March 2012 and hamburger by September 2012. Cultured meat is currently prohibitively expensive, but it is anticipated that the cost could be reduced to about twice that of conventionally produced meat. The first-generation products will most likely be chopped meat
, and a long-term goal is to grow fully developed muscle tissue. Potentially, any animal
's muscle tissue could be grown through the in vitro process, even human.
With the costs of conventional meat farming techniques constantly increasing
and an increased demand from a rising world population
(which is also bring world food prices up), in vitro meat may be one of several new technologies needed to maintain food supplies by the year 2050 Conventional meat production may simply become too expensive for the average consumer to support (when the world's population will reach 8.9 billion people). The price of in vitro meat would become detached from the price of grain and corn as there would be no feeding in the conventional sense.
, attempting to find improved forms of long-term food for astronaut
s in space. The technique was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1995, and NASA has been conducting experiments since 2001, producing in vitro meat from turkey
cells. The first edible form was produced by the NSR/Touro Applied BioScience Research Consortium in 2000: goldfish
cells grown to resemble fish fillet
s.
In 2001, dermatologist
Wiete Westerhof from the University of Amsterdam, medical doctor Willem van Eelen, and businessman Willem van Kooten announced that they had filed for a worldwide patent
on a process to produce in vitro meat. In the process, a matrix
of collagen
is seeded with muscle
cells
, which are then bathed in a nutritious solution and induced to divide. Scientists in Amsterdam study the culture medium, while the University of Utrecht
studies the proliferation of muscle cells, and the Eindhoven University of Technology
is researching bioreactors. Van Eelen said that he had thought of the idea of in vitro meat for years, since he was held in a Japanese POW
camp.
Jon F. Vein of the United States has also secured a patent for the production of tissue-engineered meat for human consumption, wherein muscle and fat cells would be grown in an integrated fashion to create food products such as beef, poultry and fish.
The first peer-reviewed journal article published on the subject of laboratory-grown meat appeared in a 2005 issue of Tissue Engineering. Of course, the basic concept dates back further. Winston Churchill
said in the 1930s, "Fifty years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium."
In 2008, PETA
offered a $1 million prize to the first company that brings lab-grown chicken meat to consumers by 2012. The Dutch government has put US$4 million into experiments regarding in vitro meat. The In Vitro Meat Consortium, a group formed by international researchers interested in the technology, held the first international conference on the production of in vitro meat, hosted by the Food Research Institute
of Norway
in April 2008, to discuss commercial possibilities.
Time Magazine declared in vitro meat production to be one of the 50 breakthrough ideas of 2009.
In November 2009, scientists from the Netherlands announced they had managed to grow meat in the laboratory using the cells from a live pig.
is animal muscle
. The process of developing in vitro meat involves taking muscle cells and applying a protein
that helps the cells to grow into large portions of meat. Once the initial cells have been obtained, additional animals would not be needed – akin to the production of yogurt cultures. One animal could provide more than a billion pounds of in vitro meat to feed the world's population for at least several hundred years.
There are, loosely, two approaches for production of in vitro meat: loose muscle cells and structured muscle, the latter one being vastly more challenging than the former. Muscles consist of muscle fibers, long cells with multiple nuclei
. They do not proliferate by themselves, but arise when precursor cells fuse. Precursor cells can be embryonic stem cell
s or satellite cells, specialized stem cells in muscle tissue. Theoretically, it is relatively simple to culture them in a bioreactor
and then make them fuse. For the growth of real muscle, however, the cells should grow "on the spot," which requires a perfusion system akin to a blood supply to deliver nutrients and oxygen close to the growing cells, as well as to remove the waste products. In addition, other cell types, such as adipocyte
s, need to be grown, and chemical messengers should provide clues to the growing tissue about the structure. Lastly, muscle tissue needs to be physically stretched or "exercised" to properly develop.
The price of in vitro meat at retail outlets like grocery stores and supermarkets may decrease prices to levels that middle-class consumers consider to be "inexpensive" due to technological advancements. Milk, cheese and eggs could also be produced without needing multiple animals.
In vitro meat does not necessarily involve genetic engineering
, a common misconception. In fact, the cells involved are natural cells which would grow in the normal method.
. The technology is simultaneously being developed along with other uses for tissue engineering such as helping those with muscular dystrophy
and, similarly, growing transplant organs. There are several obstacles to overcome if it has any chance of succeeding; at the moment, the most notable ones are scale and cost.
. His research group managed to grow muscle tissue from goldfish in a laboratory setting with several kinds of growth media.
In 2004, a group of researchers started the non-profit organization New Harvest
, with the goal of promoting research into in vitro meat. Among the founders are Jason Matheny
and Vladimir Mironov. According to their website, cultured meat in a processed form, like sausage
s, hamburger
s, or chicken nugget
s, may become commercially available within several years. One of the first places of businesses to accept this in vitro meat would be fast food restaurants. Since they do not disclose which farmer or rancher provided them with food, in vitro meat in fast food restaurants is often seen as an inevitable advancement.
In April 2005, a research project into cultured meat started in The Netherlands, and in 2008, it was reported that most research into in vitro meat is being conducted by Dutch scientific teams. The research is carried out under the lead of Henk Haagsman, a meat science researcher at the University of Amsterdam, the Eindhoven University of Technology
and Utrecht University
, in cooperation with sausage manufacturer Stegeman. The Dutch government granted a two million euro subsidy for the project.
On April 21, 2008, PETA
announced a $1 million X-Prize
style reward for the first group to successfully produce synthetic meat that is comparable to and commercially viable against naturally sourced meat products.
Because in vitro meat has yet to be placed on the market, the health risks have not yet been fully investigated. This question is one of the main focuses of scientists working on in vitro meat, and the aim is to produce healthier meat than conventional meat, most notably by reducing its fat content and controlling nutrients.
Researchers have suggested that omega-3 fatty acid
s could be added to in vitro meat as a health bonus. In a similar way, the omega-3 fatty acid content of conventional meat can also be increased by altering what the animals are fed. An issue of Time
magazine has suggested that the in vitro process may also decrease exposure of the meat to bacteria and disease.
Due to the strictly controlled and predictable environments of both in vitro meat farming and vertical farming, there will be reduced exposure to dangerous chemicals like pesticides and fungicides, severe injuries, and wildlife.
.
If in vitro meat turns out to be different in appearance
, taste
, smell
, texture, or other factors, it may not be commercially competitive with conventionally produced meat. The lack of fat and bone may also be a disadvantage, for these parts make appreciable culinary contributions. However, the lack of bones and/or fat may make many traditional meats like Buffalo wings more palatable to small children.
to generate a small portion of its own electrical needs. Methane digesters could be built on site to transform the organic waste generated at the facility into biogas
which is generally composed of 65% methane along with other gasses. This biogas could then be burned to generate electricity for the greenhouse or a series of bioreactors.
A study by researchers at Oxford and the University of Amsterdam found that in vitro meat was "potentially ... much more efficient and environmentally-friendly", generating only 4% greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the energy needs of meat generation by up to 45%, and requiring only 2% of the land that the global meat/livestock industry does. The patent holder for in vitro meat, the journalist Brendan I. Koerner
, and Hanna Tuomisto, a PhD student from Oxford University all believe it has less environmental impact. This is in contrast to cattle
farming; which is "responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases"; causing more damage to the environment than the combined effects of the world's transportation system. Vertical farming may completely eliminate the need to create extra farmland in rural areas along with in vitro meat. Their combined role may create a sustainable solution for a cleaner environment.
One skeptic is Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists
, who speculates that the energy and fossil fuel requirements of large scale in vitro meat production may be more environmentally destructive than producing food off the land. However, it has been indicated that both vertical farming in urban areas and the activity of in vitro meat facilities will cause very little harm to the species of wildlife that live around the facilities. Many natural resources will be spared from depletion due to the conservation efforts made by both vertical farming and in vitro meat; making them ideal technologies for an overpopulated world. Conventional farming, on the other hand, kills ten wildlife animals per hectacre each year. Converting ten acres of farmland from its man-made condition back into either pristine wilderness or grasslands would save approximately 40 animals while converting two acres of that same farmland back into the state it was in prior to settlement by human beings would save approximately 80 animals.
groups are generally in favour of the production of in vitro meat because it does not have a nervous system and therefore cannot feel pain. The availability of in vitro meat would mean fewer animals suffering for animal-based food.
It has been suggested in the past that the high costs of food
in developed countries are linked to packaging and advertising
as opposed to the actual cost of the food product. The American cable news network CNN
projected that these prices would stabilize after the year 2017 due to the decreased number of plantings by North American and European farmers. Prices have only recently begun to stabilize thanks to the total number of cash crop plantings - which started to increase again at the 2009 planting season. Traditional livestock farming operations are suffering due to the rising cost of gasoline and electricity. Higher heating and electricity costs also bring up the cost of food that is created through conventional agriculture. The demand for in vitro meat is rising as conventional meat becomes more expensive.
The effects of the 2007–2008 world food price crisis
are not expected to be repeated beyond 2011 due to ample stockpiles of various staple food items. However, in vitro meat could help to improve the global stockpile of food with its inexpensive meat products to finally solve the hunger issues in Africa along with Asia and Latin America.
The UN's World Food Programme
does not expect the price of wheat and corn - which are required to maintain livestock - to return to the levels that people enjoyed prior to 2008. This is due to the rising cost of commodity goods
in the emerging markets
. Good weather helped to increase grain yields in 2011 while demand had dropped due to the recession; leading to some price decreases. This may not prevent the cost of conventional meat from becoming completely unaffordable to the masses by 2050. Skyscraper farm
ing and urban agriculture
initiatives may also play a helping role in lowering prices by bringing farming to urban areas (where the majority of the world's population lives).
People who lose their jobs related to the conventional meat industry (i.e., butcher
s, meat processors) could consider the possibility for retraining for occupations that are more urban-oriented (i.e, nurses, dental hygienist
s, game designer
s). Any short-term damages to the economy that the elimination of conventional meat industry jobs causes may be mitigated in the long-term. The children and grandchildren of the former ranch owners would become in vitro meat "factory" designers and technological experts. Vertical farming may absorb the other conventional farming jobs that become obsolete as a result of in vitro meat becoming popular with the masses.
Rural real estate values will plummet as vast tracts of ranch land are abandoned and sold for a major loss. After the land of sold, a lot of the former ranch land would become used for either vacation home
s, reforested park
s, hemp
farms, or bamboo
ranches (depending on the climate). The needs of an expanding middle class in Asia may become reliant on in vitro products like in vitro meat to ward off the rising cost of food items that are not produced in vitro.
. The earliest mention may be in Two Planets (original German title: Auf Zwei Planeten) (1897) by Kurd Lasswitz, where "synthetic meat" is one of the varieties of synthetic food introduced on Earth by Martians. Other notable books mentioning artificial meat include The Space Merchants
(1952) by Frederik Pohl
and C.M. Kornbluth
; Neuromancer
(1984) by William Gibson
; Oryx and Crake
(2003) by Margaret Atwood
; and the Ware Tetralogy
by Rudy Rucker
.
In film, artificial meat has featured prominently in Giulio Questi
's 1968 drama La morte ha fatto l'uovo (Death Laid an Egg) and Claude Zidi
's 1976 comedy L'aile ou la cuisse
(The Wing or the Thigh). "Man-made" chickens also appear in David Lynch
's 1977 surrealist horror, Eraserhead
.
This form of meat has been described, sometimes derisively, as "laboratory-grown" meat. In vitro meat should not be confused with imitation meat
Meat analogue
A meat analogue, also called a meat substitute, mock meat, faux meat, or imitation meat, approximates the aesthetic qualities and/or chemical characteristics of specific types of meat...
, which is a vegetarian food
Vegetarian cuisine
Vegetarian cuisine refers to food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products. For lacto-ovo vegetarianism , eggs and dairy products such as milk and cheese are permitted...
product produced from vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
, usually from soy
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
or gluten
Gluten
Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye...
. The terms "synthetic meat" and "artificial meat" may refer to either. The original NASA research on in vitro meat was intended for use on long space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
voyages or stays; it would be a sustainable food source alongside hydroponic
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.Researchers discovered in the 18th...
or aeroponically
Aeroponics
Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium . The word "aeroponic" is derived from the Greek meanings of aero- and ponos . Aeroponic culture differs from both conventional hydroponics and in-vitro growing...
grown vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s.
Several current research projects are growing in vitro meat experimentally, although no meat has yet been produced for public consumption. As early as 2008, some scientists claimed that the technology was ready for commercial use and simply needed a company to back it. The first meats successfully grown in a lab included goldfish and lamb. Scientists at Maastricht University plan to produce sausage by March 2012 and hamburger by September 2012. Cultured meat is currently prohibitively expensive, but it is anticipated that the cost could be reduced to about twice that of conventionally produced meat. The first-generation products will most likely be chopped meat
Ground meat
Ground meat is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. It is called minced meat or more usually mince outside North America....
, and a long-term goal is to grow fully developed muscle tissue. Potentially, any animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
's muscle tissue could be grown through the in vitro process, even human.
With the costs of conventional meat farming techniques constantly increasing
2007–2008 world food price crisis
World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2008 creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject...
and an increased demand from a rising world population
World population
The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. As of today, it is estimated to be billion by the United States Census Bureau...
(which is also bring world food prices up), in vitro meat may be one of several new technologies needed to maintain food supplies by the year 2050 Conventional meat production may simply become too expensive for the average consumer to support (when the world's population will reach 8.9 billion people). The price of in vitro meat would become detached from the price of grain and corn as there would be no feeding in the conventional sense.
History
Modern research into in vitro meat arose out of experiments conducted by NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, attempting to find improved forms of long-term food for astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s in space. The technique was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1995, and NASA has been conducting experiments since 2001, producing in vitro meat from turkey
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
cells. The first edible form was produced by the NSR/Touro Applied BioScience Research Consortium in 2000: goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
cells grown to resemble fish fillet
Fillet (cut)
A fillet is a cut or slice of boneless meat or fish.- Meat :In the case of beef, in the USA, the term most often refers to beef tenderloin, especially filet mignon.- Chicken :...
s.
In 2001, dermatologist
Dermatology
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....
Wiete Westerhof from the University of Amsterdam, medical doctor Willem van Eelen, and businessman Willem van Kooten announced that they had filed for a worldwide patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
on a process to produce in vitro meat. In the process, a matrix
Matrix (biology)
In biology, matrix is the material between animal or plant cells, in which more specialized structures are embedded, and a specific part of the mitochondrion that is the site of oxidation of organic molecules. The internal structure of connective tissues is an extracellular matrix...
of collagen
Collagen
Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins found in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content...
is seeded with muscle
Muscle
Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
cells
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
, which are then bathed in a nutritious solution and induced to divide. Scientists in Amsterdam study the culture medium, while the University of Utrecht
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
studies the proliferation of muscle cells, and the Eindhoven University of Technology
Eindhoven University of Technology
The ' is a university of technology located in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The motto of the university is: Mens agitat molem . The university was the second of its kind in the Netherlands, only Delft University of Technology existed previously. Until mid-1980 it was known as the...
is researching bioreactors. Van Eelen said that he had thought of the idea of in vitro meat for years, since he was held in a Japanese POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp.
Jon F. Vein of the United States has also secured a patent for the production of tissue-engineered meat for human consumption, wherein muscle and fat cells would be grown in an integrated fashion to create food products such as beef, poultry and fish.
The first peer-reviewed journal article published on the subject of laboratory-grown meat appeared in a 2005 issue of Tissue Engineering. Of course, the basic concept dates back further. Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
said in the 1930s, "Fifty years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium."
In 2008, PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
offered a $1 million prize to the first company that brings lab-grown chicken meat to consumers by 2012. The Dutch government has put US$4 million into experiments regarding in vitro meat. The In Vitro Meat Consortium, a group formed by international researchers interested in the technology, held the first international conference on the production of in vitro meat, hosted by the Food Research Institute
Norwegian Food Research Institute
The Norwegian Food Research Institute is a food science research institute based in Ås, Norway.Owned by the independent Agricultural Food Research Foundation, it is physically located close to the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Akvaforsk and Bioforsk...
of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in April 2008, to discuss commercial possibilities.
Time Magazine declared in vitro meat production to be one of the 50 breakthrough ideas of 2009.
In November 2009, scientists from the Netherlands announced they had managed to grow meat in the laboratory using the cells from a live pig.
Production
Most meatMeat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
is animal muscle
Muscle
Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
. The process of developing in vitro meat involves taking muscle cells and applying a protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
that helps the cells to grow into large portions of meat. Once the initial cells have been obtained, additional animals would not be needed – akin to the production of yogurt cultures. One animal could provide more than a billion pounds of in vitro meat to feed the world's population for at least several hundred years.
There are, loosely, two approaches for production of in vitro meat: loose muscle cells and structured muscle, the latter one being vastly more challenging than the former. Muscles consist of muscle fibers, long cells with multiple nuclei
Cell nucleus
In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...
. They do not proliferate by themselves, but arise when precursor cells fuse. Precursor cells can be embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...
s or satellite cells, specialized stem cells in muscle tissue. Theoretically, it is relatively simple to culture them in a bioreactor
Bioreactor
A bioreactor may refer to any manufactured or engineered device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms. This...
and then make them fuse. For the growth of real muscle, however, the cells should grow "on the spot," which requires a perfusion system akin to a blood supply to deliver nutrients and oxygen close to the growing cells, as well as to remove the waste products. In addition, other cell types, such as adipocyte
Adipocyte
However, in some reports and textbooks, the number of fat cell increased in childhood and adolescence. The total number is constant in both obese and lean adult...
s, need to be grown, and chemical messengers should provide clues to the growing tissue about the structure. Lastly, muscle tissue needs to be physically stretched or "exercised" to properly develop.
The price of in vitro meat at retail outlets like grocery stores and supermarkets may decrease prices to levels that middle-class consumers consider to be "inexpensive" due to technological advancements. Milk, cheese and eggs could also be produced without needing multiple animals.
In vitro meat does not necessarily involve genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
, a common misconception. In fact, the cells involved are natural cells which would grow in the normal method.
Challenges
The science for in vitro meat is an outgrowth of the field of biotechnology known as tissue engineeringTissue engineering
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
. The technology is simultaneously being developed along with other uses for tissue engineering such as helping those with muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...
and, similarly, growing transplant organs. There are several obstacles to overcome if it has any chance of succeeding; at the moment, the most notable ones are scale and cost.
- Proliferation of muscle cells: Although it is not very difficult to make stem cells divide, for meat production it is necessary that they divide at a quick pace, producing the solid meat. This requirement has some overlap with the medical branch of tissue engineeringTissue engineeringTissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
. - Culture medium: Proliferating cells need a food source to grow and develop. The growth medium should be a well-balanced mixture of ingredients and growth factors. Scientists have already identified possible growth media for turkey, fish, sheep and pig muscle cells. Depending on the motives of the researchers, the growth medium has additional requirements.
- Commercial: The growth medium should be inexpensive to produce. A plant-based medium may be less expensive than fetal bovine serum.
- Environmental: The production of the growth medium should not have a negative effect on the environment. This means that the production should be energetically favorable. Additionally, the ingredients should come from completely renewable sources. Minerals from mined sources are in this case not possible, nor are synthetically produced nutrients which use non-renewable sources.
- Animal welfare: The growth medium should be devoid of animal sources (except for the initial "mining" of the original stem cells).
- Non-Allergenic: While plant based growth media are "more realistic," will be cheaper, and reduce possibility of infectious agents, there is also the possibility that plant-based growth media may cause allergic reactions to some consumers.
- Bioreactors: Nutrients and oxygen need to be delivered close to each growing cell, on the scale of millimeters. In animals this job is handled by blood vesselBlood vesselThe blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transports blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart; the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and...
s. A bioreactor should emulate this function in an efficient manner. The usual approach is the creation of a sponge-like matrix in which the cells can grow, and perfusing it with the growth medium.
Initiatives
Perhaps the first research into in vitro meat was performed by M. A. Benjaminson from Touro CollegeTouro College
Touro College is a sponsored independent institution of higher and professional education, in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by Dr. Bernard Lander, the College was established primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American community...
. His research group managed to grow muscle tissue from goldfish in a laboratory setting with several kinds of growth media.
In 2004, a group of researchers started the non-profit organization New Harvest
New Harvest
New Harvest is a non-profit organization promoting research on the development of in vitro meat and other meat substitutes. New Harvest was formed by researchers actively promoting tissue engineering. In 2005, P. D. Edelman, M.Sc., D.C. McFarland, Ph.D., V.A. Mironov, Ph.D., M.D., and J.G. Matheny,...
, with the goal of promoting research into in vitro meat. Among the founders are Jason Matheny
Jason Matheny
Jason Gaverick Matheny is a research associate with the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, where his work focuses on technology forecasting and risk assessment - particularly of global catastrophic risks and existential risks....
and Vladimir Mironov. According to their website, cultured meat in a processed form, like sausage
Sausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
s, hamburger
Hamburger
A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
s, or chicken nugget
Chicken nugget
A chicken nugget is a molded piece of chicken product, breaded or battered, then fried or baked. Fast food restaurants typically deep fry their nuggets in vegetable oil, such as coconut oil....
s, may become commercially available within several years. One of the first places of businesses to accept this in vitro meat would be fast food restaurants. Since they do not disclose which farmer or rancher provided them with food, in vitro meat in fast food restaurants is often seen as an inevitable advancement.
In April 2005, a research project into cultured meat started in The Netherlands, and in 2008, it was reported that most research into in vitro meat is being conducted by Dutch scientific teams. The research is carried out under the lead of Henk Haagsman, a meat science researcher at the University of Amsterdam, the Eindhoven University of Technology
Eindhoven University of Technology
The ' is a university of technology located in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The motto of the university is: Mens agitat molem . The university was the second of its kind in the Netherlands, only Delft University of Technology existed previously. Until mid-1980 it was known as the...
and Utrecht University
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
, in cooperation with sausage manufacturer Stegeman. The Dutch government granted a two million euro subsidy for the project.
On April 21, 2008, PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
announced a $1 million X-Prize
X Prize Foundation
The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit mankind....
style reward for the first group to successfully produce synthetic meat that is comparable to and commercially viable against naturally sourced meat products.
Health
Large scale production of in vitro meat may require artificial growth hormones to be added to the culture for meat production. No procedure has been presented to produce large scale in vitro meat without the use of antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections.Because in vitro meat has yet to be placed on the market, the health risks have not yet been fully investigated. This question is one of the main focuses of scientists working on in vitro meat, and the aim is to produce healthier meat than conventional meat, most notably by reducing its fat content and controlling nutrients.
Researchers have suggested that omega-3 fatty acid
Omega-3 fatty acid
N−3 fatty acids are essential unsaturated fatty acids with a double bond starting after the third carbon atom from the end of the carbon chain....
s could be added to in vitro meat as a health bonus. In a similar way, the omega-3 fatty acid content of conventional meat can also be increased by altering what the animals are fed. An issue of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine has suggested that the in vitro process may also decrease exposure of the meat to bacteria and disease.
Due to the strictly controlled and predictable environments of both in vitro meat farming and vertical farming, there will be reduced exposure to dangerous chemicals like pesticides and fungicides, severe injuries, and wildlife.
Artificiality
Although in vitro meat consists of natural meat cells, consumers may find such a high-technology approach to food production distasteful. Technology in cuisine tends to remain stagnant for a long period of time as people are often wary of new cooking methods. In vitro meat has been disparagingly described as Frankenmeat, reflecting a sentiment that it is unnatural and therefore wrongAppeal to nature
An appeal to nature is a type of argument that depends on an understanding of nature as a source of intelligibility for its claims, and which relies on that understanding for its outcome...
.
If in vitro meat turns out to be different in appearance
Visual appearance
The visual appearance of objects is given by the way in which they reflect and transmit light. The color of objects is determined by the parts of the spectrum of light that are reflected or transmitted without being absorbed...
, taste
Taste
Taste is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food, certain minerals, and poisons, etc....
, smell
Odor
An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...
, texture, or other factors, it may not be commercially competitive with conventionally produced meat. The lack of fat and bone may also be a disadvantage, for these parts make appreciable culinary contributions. However, the lack of bones and/or fat may make many traditional meats like Buffalo wings more palatable to small children.
Environmental
Some have speculated that in vitro meat might require fewer resources and produce less greenhouse gas and other waste than conventional meat production. For every acre that is used for vertical farming and/or in vitro meat manufacturing, anywhere between 10 acres (4 ha) to 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land may be converted from conventional agriculture usage back into its natural state. Vertical farms (in addition to in vitro meat facilities) could exploit methane digestersAnaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy....
to generate a small portion of its own electrical needs. Methane digesters could be built on site to transform the organic waste generated at the facility into biogas
Biogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
which is generally composed of 65% methane along with other gasses. This biogas could then be burned to generate electricity for the greenhouse or a series of bioreactors.
A study by researchers at Oxford and the University of Amsterdam found that in vitro meat was "potentially ... much more efficient and environmentally-friendly", generating only 4% greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the energy needs of meat generation by up to 45%, and requiring only 2% of the land that the global meat/livestock industry does. The patent holder for in vitro meat, the journalist Brendan I. Koerner
Brendan I. Koerner
Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor for Wired magazine and a columnist for both The New York Times and Slate magazine.He sometimes writes using the pseudonym "Mr...
, and Hanna Tuomisto, a PhD student from Oxford University all believe it has less environmental impact. This is in contrast to cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
farming; which is "responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases"; causing more damage to the environment than the combined effects of the world's transportation system. Vertical farming may completely eliminate the need to create extra farmland in rural areas along with in vitro meat. Their combined role may create a sustainable solution for a cleaner environment.
One skeptic is Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit science advocacy group based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. James J...
, who speculates that the energy and fossil fuel requirements of large scale in vitro meat production may be more environmentally destructive than producing food off the land. However, it has been indicated that both vertical farming in urban areas and the activity of in vitro meat facilities will cause very little harm to the species of wildlife that live around the facilities. Many natural resources will be spared from depletion due to the conservation efforts made by both vertical farming and in vitro meat; making them ideal technologies for an overpopulated world. Conventional farming, on the other hand, kills ten wildlife animals per hectacre each year. Converting ten acres of farmland from its man-made condition back into either pristine wilderness or grasslands would save approximately 40 animals while converting two acres of that same farmland back into the state it was in prior to settlement by human beings would save approximately 80 animals.
Ethical considerations
Animal welfareAnimal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
groups are generally in favour of the production of in vitro meat because it does not have a nervous system and therefore cannot feel pain. The availability of in vitro meat would mean fewer animals suffering for animal-based food.
Economic
The production of in vitro meat is currently very expensive - about US$1 million for a piece of beef weighing 250 gram (0.551155655462194 lb) - and it would take considerable investment to switch to large scale production. However, the In Vitro Meat Consortium has estimated that with improvements to current technology there could be considerable reductions in the cost of in vitro meat. They estimate that it could be produced for 3500€/tonne (US$5037/tonne), which is about twice the cost of unsubsidized conventional European chicken production.It has been suggested in the past that the high costs of food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
in developed countries are linked to packaging and advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
as opposed to the actual cost of the food product. The American cable news network CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
projected that these prices would stabilize after the year 2017 due to the decreased number of plantings by North American and European farmers. Prices have only recently begun to stabilize thanks to the total number of cash crop plantings - which started to increase again at the 2009 planting season. Traditional livestock farming operations are suffering due to the rising cost of gasoline and electricity. Higher heating and electricity costs also bring up the cost of food that is created through conventional agriculture. The demand for in vitro meat is rising as conventional meat becomes more expensive.
The effects of the 2007–2008 world food price crisis
2007–2008 world food price crisis
World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2008 creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject...
are not expected to be repeated beyond 2011 due to ample stockpiles of various staple food items. However, in vitro meat could help to improve the global stockpile of food with its inexpensive meat products to finally solve the hunger issues in Africa along with Asia and Latin America.
The UN's World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
does not expect the price of wheat and corn - which are required to maintain livestock - to return to the levels that people enjoyed prior to 2008. This is due to the rising cost of commodity goods
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
in the emerging markets
Emerging markets
Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...
. Good weather helped to increase grain yields in 2011 while demand had dropped due to the recession; leading to some price decreases. This may not prevent the cost of conventional meat from becoming completely unaffordable to the masses by 2050. Skyscraper farm
Vertical farming
Vertical farming is a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers, or on vertically inclined surfaces...
ing and urban agriculture
Urban agriculture
Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around, a village, town or city. Urban agriculture in addition can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agro-forestry and horticulture...
initiatives may also play a helping role in lowering prices by bringing farming to urban areas (where the majority of the world's population lives).
People who lose their jobs related to the conventional meat industry (i.e., butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
s, meat processors) could consider the possibility for retraining for occupations that are more urban-oriented (i.e, nurses, dental hygienist
Dental hygienist
thumb|right|300px|Dental hygienist holding a scalerA dental hygienist is a licensed dental professional who specializes in preventive oral health, typically focusing on techniques in oral hygiene. Local dental regulations determine the scope of practice of dental hygienists...
s, game designer
Game design
Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...
s). Any short-term damages to the economy that the elimination of conventional meat industry jobs causes may be mitigated in the long-term. The children and grandchildren of the former ranch owners would become in vitro meat "factory" designers and technological experts. Vertical farming may absorb the other conventional farming jobs that become obsolete as a result of in vitro meat becoming popular with the masses.
Rural real estate values will plummet as vast tracts of ranch land are abandoned and sold for a major loss. After the land of sold, a lot of the former ranch land would become used for either vacation home
Vacation property
Vacation property is a niche in the real estate market dealing with residences used for holiday vacations . In the United Kingdom this type of property is usually termed a holiday home, in Australia, a holiday house/home, or weekender, in New Zealand, a bach or crib...
s, reforested park
Reforestation
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands that have been depleted, usually through deforestation....
s, hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
farms, or bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
ranches (depending on the climate). The needs of an expanding middle class in Asia may become reliant on in vitro products like in vitro meat to ward off the rising cost of food items that are not produced in vitro.
In fiction
In vitro meat has often featured in science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. The earliest mention may be in Two Planets (original German title: Auf Zwei Planeten) (1897) by Kurd Lasswitz, where "synthetic meat" is one of the varieties of synthetic food introduced on Earth by Martians. Other notable books mentioning artificial meat include The Space Merchants
The Space Merchants
The Space Merchants is a science fiction novel, written by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth in 1952. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine as a serial entitled Gravy Planet, the novel was first published as a single volume in 1953, and has sold heavily since...
(1952) by Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
and C.M. Kornbluth
Cyril M. Kornbluth
Cyril M. Kornbluth was an American science fiction author and a notable member of the Futurians. He used a variety of pen-names, including Cecil Corwin, S. D. Gottesman, Edward J. Bellin, Kenneth Falconer, Walter C. Davies, Simon Eisner and Jordan Park...
; Neuromancer
Neuromancer
Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" — the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...
(1984) by William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
; Oryx and Crake
Oryx and Crake
Oryx and Crake is a novel by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Atwood has at times disputed the novel being science fiction, preferring to label it speculative fiction and "adventure romance" because it does not deal with 'things that have not been invented yet' and goes beyond the realism she...
(2003) by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
; and the Ware Tetralogy
Ware Tetralogy
The Ware Tetralogy is a series of four science fiction novels by author Rudy Rucker: Software , Wetware , Freeware and Realware . The first two books both received the Philip K. Dick Award for best novel...
by Rudy Rucker
Rudy Rucker
Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and philosopher, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of...
.
In film, artificial meat has featured prominently in Giulio Questi
Giulio Questi
Giulio Questi is an Italian film director and screenwriter.Questi wrote short stories and filmed several documentaries before he started as assistant director and script writer in the movie business....
's 1968 drama La morte ha fatto l'uovo (Death Laid an Egg) and Claude Zidi
Claude Zidi
Claude Zidi is a French film director and screenwriter who is noted for his mainstream burlesque comedies. Born in Paris, he started as a cameraman and then cinematographer, and made his directorial and screenwriting debut in 1971...
's 1976 comedy L'aile ou la cuisse
L'aile ou la cuisse
L'aile ou la cuisse is a 1976 French comedy film directed by Claude Zidi, starring Louis de Funès and Coluche.-Plot:Charles Duchemin is the editor of an internationally known restaurant guide...
(The Wing or the Thigh). "Man-made" chickens also appear in David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's 1977 surrealist horror, Eraserhead
Eraserhead
Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist film and the first feature film of David Lynch, who wrote, produced and directed. Lynch began working on the film at the AFI Conservatory, which gave him a $10,000 grant to make the film after he had begun working there following his 1971 move to Los Angeles...
.
See also
- 3D printing3D printing3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable, and easier to use than other additive manufacturing technologies. However, the term 3D printing is...
- BioArtBioArtBioArt is an art practice where humans work with live tissues, bacteria, living organisms, and life processes. Using scientific processes such as biotechnology the artworks are produced in laboratories, galleries, or artists' studios...
- Cell cultureCell cultureCell culture is the complex process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions. In practice, the term "cell culture" has come to refer to the culturing of cells derived from singlecellular eukaryotes, especially animal cells. However, there are also cultures of plants, fungi and microbes,...
- Genetic modification
- HydroponicsHydroponicsHydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.Researchers discovered in the 18th...
- In vitro toxicologyIn vitro toxicologyIn vitro toxicity testing is the scientific analysis of the effects of toxic chemical substances on cultured bacteria or mammalian cells. In vitro testing methods are employed primarily to identify potentially hazardous chemicals and/or to confirm the lack of certain toxic properties in the early...
- Plant tissue culturePlant tissue culturePlant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Plant tissue culture is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method known as micropropagation...
- Tissue cultureTissue cultureTissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells separate from the organism. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar...
- Tissue engineeringTissue engineeringTissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
External links
- In Vitro Meat Consortium, scientists interested in research into in vitro meat