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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brian Stout, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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This is the worlds Future
LAB GROWN MEAT
Fake meat, is it the new food source for the world? I am not talking about red slime but meat grown from cells from animals. There will be no need to raise an animal from birth to adulthood, then slaughter the animal for process to make its way to the market. Many people believe this will be the way to feed the worlds people. Some people are excited and others say they won’t eat it. There are only two countries at this time which allow cell grown meat. They are the United States and Singapore. More than 150 startups are looking at meat that doesn’t require raising and killing animals that is affordable, tastes, looks and feels like the meat humans have been eating since the beginning of time. This new industry are using cell biology to reduce the environmental impact of the world’s ever-increasing demand for meat and change global meat production. Companies making lab-grown meat, are trying to get going quickly, they are partnering with traditional meat companies, drawing more and more investors and breaking ground on new production facilities in the U.S. and elsewhere. There is no wide use and manufacturing the lab grown meat as of yet, as it is quite expensive to make. There are scientific challenges, such as learning how to imitate the difficult structure of steak. And various governments required regulation is another obstacle. Many people who have tried this new meat actually like the meat, while others absolutely hate it just because it’s not the regular natural raised met and find it creepy. Research found that half of adults in the meat-hungry U.S. would be unlikely to try it. How they start the process? this process starts with cells. Depending on the company, the cells may come from a piece of tissue, a fertilized egg or a cell bank. Various types can be used; scientists choose cells that can self-renew and turn into the muscle and fat cells that make up meat tissue. From starter cells they create “cell lines” so they don’t have to keep going back to animals. These cells are placed inside vessels of various sizes called bioreactors and bathed in a nutrient-rich broth where they multiply. Thick, structured meat also requires a frame that helps cells organize into a shape. Changes in the composition of the broth, or media, and cues from the scaffolding, tell immature cells to turn into muscle, fat and connective tissue. Once the bioreactor is full, the paste of cells is harvested and mixed with plant proteins, then pressurized and pushed out to create meat fibers. The company now makes cultivated chicken and lamb and has plans for beef, which is harder to make because it’s more difficult to create genetically-stable cell lines from bigger animals. Yet one company is pursuing producing beef at this time. Cultivated meats have a way to go before they’re the same texture of conventional meats, other than burgers or nuggets. Price is also a problem. Production costs for the first cultivated beef burger, created a decade ago by Mark Post at Maastricht University in The Netherlands, were estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, the university says, the company he helped found, Mosa Meat, has reduced that to about $10 as it works toward commercialization. Cell food is the most expensive part of the cultivated meat process, and presents different problems. Some recipes includes expensive fetal bovine serum, which is derived from the blood of a cow fetus. Other types are serum-free but include costly ingredients. Startups are exploring less expensive non-animal alternatives, such as food-grade, rather than pharmaceutical-grade, growth factors, that stimulate cells to divide and grow in number. Old habits and eating food the old fashion way is hard for older folks to get use to, and are more likely not to even try generated meats. In the AP-NORC poll, just 18% of U.S. adults said they are extremely or very likely to try cultivated meat, and 30% said they are somewhat likely. Those under 45 years old are more likely than older adults to try it and men are more likely than women. When those unlikely to try it were asked to choose from a list of reasons why, half said they didn’t think it would be safe. People want more research done, worrying about the long-term effects,” since early products deemed safe may later be found to be unsafe. A World Health Organization reported several potential safety issues, microbial contamination at various points in the process, biological by-products and scaffolding that some people might be allergic to. Experts acknowledged a lot more safety testing is needed, but noted that conventional meat carries significant food-safety risks, such as potential bacterial contamination during slaughter. Many people have been served cultivated chicken at dinners and they are surprised how good it tasted, its not dry and the chicken actually tastes like chicken. Experts say a lot more people will be trying cultivated meat soon. A recent report from the Good Food Institute found cultivated meat investments tripled on average each year from 2016 to 2022. About 70 traditional meat and food companies are involved with cultivated meat in some way. And regulatory approvals in the U.S. are expected to be followed by many more elsewhere. With all of that pushing them forward, some cultivated meat companies are growing as fast as their cells. Good Meat has nearly completed a production facility in Singapore and plans a large-scale U.S. plant. Believer broke ground on its own large-scale plant last December in North Carolina. Management consultant firm McKinsey & Company predicts cultivated meat could provide billions of pounds of the world’s meat supply by 2030. Still, that’s only around half a percent, and not nearly enough to offset rising consumption of meat from animals. No one expects cultured meat to dominated human diets any time soon, but population and climate pressures will make traditional meat production impossible in the future, making cultivated meat a potential solution for a population growing, delicate world.
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