Edible cuts of animal muscle meat grown in laboratory from a few cells

Want to enjoy the ultimate in genetically-modified steak and chops? On the other hand, want to see farm animals no longer crowded in cages or stalls? Scientists in the Netherlands are getting closer faster toward artificially engineered animal foods made in a laboratory without harming a livestock animal. See the article, "Anyone for pork served by the man in a lab coat?" How do you feel about eating in-vitro meat or fish? See the article, "Eight Ways In-Vitro Meat will Change Our Lives."

The idea started back in 2002 with growing fish fillets in a tank to provide food for astronauts. See, "Fish fillets grow in tank - 20 March 2002 - New Scientist." Scientists trying to create alternative food sources for astronauts believed eight years ago that we could also create meat on demand.

You can bet in about four years there are going to be a lot of people complaining about whether genetically-engineered meat in a lab is healthy. But science is advancing. Meat is on its way to be manufactured in very high-end laboratory settings from a few cells gleaned from the muscle of a farm animal, such as a pig.

Scientists are now growing a type of meat in their laboratories for the first time in history, and by 2014, researchers hope the meat will be edible and tasty, grown from a few muscle cells. The studies are being done currently on pork. Who's going to be interested first--chefs or meat manufacturers?

According to the Nov. 30, 2009 Treehugger.com site article, "Pork Meat 'Grown' in Labs to be Sold in Grocery Stores as soon as 2014," by Brian Merchant, Netherlands scientists extracted a tiny number of cells from the edible muscle of a live pig. Think of the field day scientists will have with researching the health benefits or issues with this type of genetically-modified meat. See the Nov. 29, 2009 UK Telegraph article, "Scientists Grow Meat in Laboratory," by Nick Bitten.

On the other hand, think of how the pigs feel crowded into factory farms. Which type of meat would you choose? Presently, the meat hasn't been tasted yet. But scientists are working on creating the perfect cut of muscle meat that might someday replace crowded livestock cages.

The pork-chop-like muscle cells were then put in a rich nutrient broth of various animal products where the cells multiplied at grew living muscle tissue, from that cut of pork that usually people would buy in a supermarket to eat. The cells taken from the pig didn't hurt the pig.

It was more like giving a DNA sample. But what happened is that the living cells kept multiplying until they turned into a type of pork steak, but not yet edible steak. It's going to take until 2014 before scientists perfect the method so that it will taste and look like a pork steak or chop.

The idea comes from scientists in the US and Europe that have been growing human organs, such as heart valves and other body parts from a patient's own cells by putting the live cells in a nutrient solution or broth and letting the live cells keep multiplying until the stage where you can grow a new heart, or at least a part of the organ to be transplanted into a human.

Scientists figure that if you can grow human parts by taking cells from a living person and growing them into a muscle or other organ, the organ part would be a perfect genetic match because it came from the donor. It can be done with bone marrow, for example. So why not with livestock animal parts headed for eating?

All it would entail is taking a DNA sample from the animal--a pig, goat, fish, chicken, or cow, for example and growing the cells not into a complete clone of the animal, but just an edible part, like a steak without harming the original animal.

Scientists are perfecting the technique of taking meat from one edible animal to create a volume of meat previously provided by many animals. Growing meat this way would use the animal's cells, such as a small amount of cells from the part of the animal you want to grow in a laboratory.

Scientists predict the process won't be perfected until four years from now. Think of how crowded factory farms are in these times and what making meat might be like in the future without harming farm animals. According to The Telegraph, what scientists in the Netherlands are doing is to find a way to create animal muscle that tastes good. When they grow the muscle, they also have to exercise it so it doesn't just come out like a clump of wasted muscle cells.

Just like scientists in the US grow a heart or parts of it, the muscle has to be exercised or worked so it develops into the type of pork muscle people would buy in a market to eat, not just a clump of mushy cells. Current research is focusing on finding a way to artificially exercise the muscle so it grows normally into a muscle by itself without any other animal parts attached.

Lab Grown Meat Resources

Scientists Grow Meat in Laboratory

Anyone for pork served by the man in a lab coat?

Fish fillets grow in tank - 20 March 2002 - New Scientist

Eight Ways In-Vitro Meat will Change Our Lives."

Meat - eating Warrants Same Scrutiny as Driving and Flying

In Defense of the Cow: How Eating Meat Could Help Slow Climate Change