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posted by FatPhil on Thursday March 21 2019, @10:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the bacon++ dept.

Artificial Meat: UK Scientists Growing 'Bacon' in Labs:

Scientists at the University of Bath have grown animal cells on blades of grass, in a step towards cultured meat.

If the process can be reproduced on an industrial scale, meat lovers might one day be tucking into a slaughter-free supply of "bacon".

The researchers say the UK can move the field forward through its expertise in medicine and engineering.

Lab-based meat products are not yet on sale, though a US company, Just, has said its chicken nuggets, grown from cells taken from the feather of chicken that is still alive, will soon be in a few restaurants.

[...]Chemical engineer Dr Marianne Ellis, of the University of Bath, sees cultured meat as "an alternative protein source to feed the world". Cultured pig cells are being grown in her laboratory, which could one day lead to bacon raised entirely off the hoof.

In the future, you would take a biopsy from a pig, isolate stem (master) cells, grow more cells, then put them into a bioreactor to massively expand them, says postgraduate student Nick Shorten of Aberystwyth University.

[...]To replicate the taste and texture of bacon will take years of research. For structure, the cells must be grown on a scaffold.

[...]At Bath, they're experimenting with something that's entirely natural - grass. They're growing rodent cells, which are cheap and easy to use, on scaffolds of grass, as a proof of principle.

"The idea was to essentially, rather than feeding a cow grass and then us eating the meat - why don't we, in quotation marks, 'feed our cells grass'," says Scott Allan, a postgraduate student in chemical engineering.

"We use it as a scaffold for them to grow on - and we then have an edible scaffold that can be incorporated into the final product."

Also weighing in are a couple of authors.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Lab-Grown Meat: Never Cost-Competitive? 42 comments

Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different story.

Splashy headlines have long overshadowed inconvenient truths about biology and economics. Now, extensive new research suggests the industry may be on a billion-dollar crash course with reality.

[...] [In March], the Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit that represents the alternative protein industry, published a techno-economic analysis (TEA) that projected the future costs of producing a kilogram of cell-cultured meat. Prepared independently for GFI by the research consulting firm CE Delft, and using proprietary data provided under NDA by 15 private companies, the document showed how addressing a series of technical and economic barriers could lower the production price from over $10,000 per pound today to about $2.50 per pound over the next nine years—an astonishing 4,000-fold reduction.

In the press push that followed, GFI claimed victory. "New studies show cultivated meat can have massive environmental benefits and be cost-competitive by 2030," it trumpeted, suggesting that a new era of cheap, accessible cultured protein is rapidly approaching. The finding is critical for GFI and its allies. If private, philanthropic, and public sector investors are going to put money into cell-cultured meat, costs need to come down quickly. Most of us have a limited appetite for 50-dollar lab-grown chicken nuggets.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @11:41AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @11:41AM (#817870)

    Rejoice, our Jewish and Muslim bretheren!
    Feast!, Feast!, go pig out on fine la'bacon fare which is kosher and halal (by interpretation of the letter of the insane religious strictures against the culinary use of piggie flesh...)

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday March 21 2019, @01:57PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 21 2019, @01:57PM (#817923) Journal

      I am not an expert on kosher and halal, so I am left to wonder if pig flesh would still be forbidden if it were miraculously self propelled airborne? (flying pigs for all!)

      Then there is also the question of free range unicorn meat.

      Our Jewish brethren could develop a new meat delicacy, secret cooking and seasoning recipe, based on foreskins. Yum!

      Rejoice, our Jewish and Muslim bretheren!

      The word "brethren" is defined as: fellow Christians or members of a male religious order.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @01:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @01:21PM (#818386)

        You missed:
        archaic plural of brother.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 21 2019, @12:31PM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 21 2019, @12:31PM (#817886)

    Just because they were created in a lab and/or grown in a farm, does not make them less living beings than the redwoods of California, the Joshua trees of the eponymous national park.

    Just because we can relate to cute little mammal piggies grown in an Oscar Mayer factory, that gives them "more rights" than a plant which lacks the physical ability to run away? Plants have sensory organs, physiological responses to environmental stimuli, an apparent manifest desire to grow, reproduce, thrive.

    May our Gods help us when we finally do meet alien life, it is most likely more different from earth mammals than earth plants are - and who will blame the quantum spore launching aliens when they identify us as the source of the probe that desecrated their single temple to their one true God, origins lost in history, millennia old and fully half of their current planetary GDP is invested in developing, and in response they squirt a little chaos demon of a self replicating organism back through space to come and wipe out carbon based life on Earth.

    Hopelessly passing your time in the grassland away
    Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
    You better watch out
    There may be dogs about
    I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen
    Things are not what they seem

    What do you get for pretending the danger's not real
    Meek and obedient you follow the leader
    Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel
    What a surprise

    The look of terminal shock in your eyes
    Now things are really what they seem
    No, this is no bad dream

    The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
    He makes me down to lie
    Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by
    With bright knives he releaseth my soul

    He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
    He converteth me to lamb cutlets
    For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger
    When cometh the day we lowly ones

    Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
    Master the art of karate
    Lo, we shall rise up
    And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water

    Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers
    March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream

    Have you heard the news?
    The dogs are dead
    You better stay home
    And do as you're told
    Get out of the road if you want to grow old

    /s

    Why, yes, I am a member of PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals. The conditions in factory farms are indeed deplorable, and should be improved, but as long as the animals are grown in good condition and slaughtered without cruelty, why shouldn't we eat them. Wild hunted meat included.

    On the other hand, destroying their habitat is tantamount to genocide and torture, and we really should stop that [cnn.com].

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:02PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:02PM (#817973)

      I don't get how this is bacon. It sounds more like bacon substitute that contains all of the normal components of bacon.

      I'm not sure what the market here is as most people eating bacon are fine with where it comes from. I suppose it is a bit more eco-friendly and I guess less animal suffering, but it seems like a lot of wasted effort for not very much gain. We have more than enough space for growing crops.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:43PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:43PM (#817991) Journal

        but it seems like a lot of wasted effort for not very much gain

        What do you think is being wasted here? Some researchers' time and a small amount of grant money?

        The market will ultimately decide whether cultured meat is worth it based on factors unrelated to eco-friendliness and animal suffering. And as it turns out, the meat industry is starting to invest in it [soylentnews.org].

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 1, TouchĂ©) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:46PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:46PM (#817995)

        Maybe they can expand the market to people who are not fine with where bacon comes from.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday March 21 2019, @01:32PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday March 21 2019, @01:32PM (#817906) Journal

    Considering some companies are expecting to commercialize various lab-grown meats in the next 2-5 years, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was ahead of these grass blade sliming researchers.

    If you really want to make the task easy, set your sights lower and make something that is as good as... turkey bacon.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:16PM (#817980)

    So, the girls have another battery operated boyfriend? This one has a more realistic texture? OK, that's cool.

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Tokolosh on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:17PM (8 children)

    by Tokolosh (585) on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:17PM (#817982)

    Is eating kale really so bad that you have to resort to this?

    Why is nobody engineering pigs to taste like tofu and kale?

    Why do people pass turkeys off as pigs?

    Finally, how will this get to market, stay at home, have roast beef for dinner (or none), go "weeweewee" all the way home?

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:35PM (6 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:35PM (#817990) Journal

      Is eating kale really so bad that you have to resort to this?

      Lab-grown (cultured) meat is not necessarily something to resort to. It has the potential to be much better.

      The companies working on this have test samples large enough to cook and eat. The researchers putting rat cells on grass blades are in amateur hour territory.

      Meat demand is growing worldwide. If the demand is growing, just telling people to become vegetarians isn't going to stop the trend. Replacing the use of livestock with cultured meat could be helpful, if the process is more resource efficient.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Osamabobama on Thursday March 21 2019, @06:44PM (5 children)

        by Osamabobama (5842) on Thursday March 21 2019, @06:44PM (#818103)

        But you didn't even answer the question:

        Is eating kale really so bad that you have to resort to this?

        The answer is yes. Kale is awful.

        --
        Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @01:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @01:29PM (#818388)

      As a kid I always felt sad for the piggy that got none.

      Then as I grew up, I realized the piggy that went to market was the worst off one.

  • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday March 21 2019, @04:34PM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday March 21 2019, @04:34PM (#818024) Homepage Journal

    The depleted May regime is LONG past its Use By Date. UK "people" voted overwhelmingly to leave the corrupt crooked European Union. Sometimes referred to as Brexit. Where is Brexit? It hasn't happened, it's not happening. And Theresa is becoming a dictator. Many times that's a great thing. With her it's not great. You have a dictator, you don't have the dictator you need. You have somebody in there that's totaly and completely incompetent. Unable to turn around the UK's depleted and corrupt Economy. She's turning to Fake Meat because she's unable to feed her people. It's very easy. Leave E.U. and U.S.A. will send more food than you know what to do with. REAL AMERICAN MEAT! And I'll get you a tremendous deal on that. You know what to do!!!

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @04:48PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @04:48PM (#818033)

    These "artificial meats" may taste like real meat, but they always have a totally different nutritional profile. Not just in stuff like minerals and vitamins but even the macro-nutrients differ. They can never help themselves but to add sugar.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @01:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @01:32PM (#818389)

      This isn't artificial meat, but cultured meat.

      Artificial meat: meat-like stuff made from plants.

      Cultured meat: meat grown without an animal (that is no organs/brain) from actual animal cells.

      The profile might be different from real meat still, but it isn't artificial meat either.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @05:32PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @05:32PM (#818068)

    High quality nutritional and tasty, efficiently mass-produced, vat-grown meat cannot come fast enough imho.

    Let's for the moment assume that they can eventually get the taste, texture and nutritional content to be equivalent of naturally grown meat from an animal.
    If everyone were to switch to this product or something like it, then the livestock industry will cease to exist almost entirely. The need for growing and transporting animal feed-stuffs will also drop dramatically. Those changes alone will be a huge benefit towards addressing the climate problem.

    And chances are the new meat will be cheaper and higher quality (more controls, no disease risks, antibiotics, etc.) than the old meat, so no one will need to sacrifice any of their luxuries. Rather the opposite will be the case.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @06:56PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 21 2019, @06:56PM (#818113)

      If you get a chance, try a Veggie Grill burger called the Beyond Burger. It's a freakin' excellent burger. Not cheap but it compares well with the standard fast food chains.

      O/T: Is it me or is the Big Mac just sauce and bun nowadays? Used to be the go-to fast food burger.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @12:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @12:54PM (#818379)

    This article appears blank in RSS feed.

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