It seems that in the future it'll be possible to 'grow' meat in an industrialised process - no animals would be involved except for the use of a single cell to start the process off

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4148164.stm

So, would you eat it or not ?

I dont think I would. I've been veggie for a long time. If i wanted to eat meat I would go to a decent free range and organic butchers.

A very interesting question, well done.


Im not a vegetarian so I cant help.

Would meateaters eat it I wonder

While this may be a nice idea in theory, if I remember my cell biology correctly (and it's been a while so I may not!) a normal cell will only go through about 70-odd divisions before dying and "suffers" from contact inhibition so would have to be grown in one cell thick sheets. If on the other hand you wanted a probably more commercially viable approach of 'vat grown meat' you would need to transform the cell line (by fusing it with an immortal cancer cell line) and I can't see that going down well with either consumers or HSE?

Originally posted by carcrash
Would meateaters eat it I wonder

It'd be interesting to see what retailers would say about it - could be a good selling point e.g. "all our chicken nuggets are manufactured in 100% sterile conditions - avoid other manufacturers who use animals to produce their meat - you cant get any diseases from our product !"

It'd be nice to munch the chicken and know it'd not been festering amongst dead and dying chickens etc :thumbsup:

no i wouldn't, because its still meat... still a muscle, still the thought of an animal, etc.
I am not a vegetarian because i don't like killing animals, im one becuase i don't like eating them!

Originally posted by steelcitybab
no i wouldn't, because its still meat... still a muscle, still the thought of an animal, etc.
I am not a vegetarian because i don't like killing animals, im one becuase i don't like eating them!

It wouldn't be eating an animal though. In fact, if technology like this were ever to work in the industrial quantities need, it would have an enormous positive impact on animal welfare.

And how is this different from quorn? All cultured cells, just from different organisms.

EDN - the beeb article states that nasa have already grown edible quantities of fishmeat in vitro.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
It wouldn't be eating an animal though. In fact, if technology like this were ever to work in the industrial quantities need, it would have an enormous positive impact on animal welfare.

And how is this different from quorn? All cultured cells, just from different organisms.

yes but quorn is a mushroom not a single cell organism.
so its technically different

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
EDN - the beeb article states that nasa have already grown edible quantities of fishmeat in vitro.

It's quite possible to culture the tissues - however I was questioning the techniques that would be used to grow it.

The actual quote was:

Tissue engineering techniques were first developed for medical use and small amounts of edible fish tissue have been grown in research conducted by Nasa

which I'm not sure if it means that they have cultured the tissue of an edible fish or that they have cultured fish tissues and shown it to be safely edible?

The quorn thing is a bit different - it's a substance processed from Fusarium venenatum (which is a mould rather than a 'shroom!) with the mould grown in vats. This is more growing the mould under lab conditions and then processing it rather than engineering the tissue to grow under the conditions it wouldn't normally grow under.

not sure as yet, the jurys still out :P

ive been veggie about 19 years but do like meat, i just dont eat it cos of cruelty and killing

i laughed when the butcher i saw on telly mentioned natural meat tho
i thought yeah right

he didnt mention all the chemicals pumped into the animal and meat in about 90% of cases

I'd eat it. I eat cultered fungus, so I don't see why I wouldn't eat cultured "meat".

I'm a vegetarian and I wouldn't.

I don't like meat...never have. When I was a child I used to chew it over and over and hated swallowing it. Turned veggie aged 11 and have never looked back!

For me it's less about the killing animals thing and more the fact I actually hate the taste of meat :gag:

I would say that "edible fish tissue" means "fish tissue you can eat".

Quorn is no more of an animal than 'vat grown meat' - should such a thing be possible. In fact I would say that the whole kingdom of Fungi is populated by strange creatures, neither animal nor vegetable.

Some fungi move around and find their own food you know (ok ok its not a true fungus, but a slime mold).

I honestly think there is more mileage in vat grown wood as a construction material.

Imagine it - no knots or irregularities, grown to whatever physical specification is required, cheap and green to produce, and no trees need to be felled.

i still wouldnt eat meat, but i dont like the taste of it anyway. dont not eat it because of the animal killing, its the thought of putting it in my mouth, the taste + texture!

as anyone who has tried it will know, quorn very rarely tastes like meat!

I'd eat it, they would probably grow it with less fat that a "real" animal so it would be better for you. Imagine if they could grow a gigantic fillet steak, yummy.

Of course, if it cost a lot more than normal meat I wouldn't bother.

Out of interest, the vegetarians that don't eat meat because they just don't like it, do you bang on about how terrible meat is to your mates ?

Originally posted by nick2
Out of interest, the vegetarians that don't eat meat because they just don't like it, do you bang on about how terrible meat is to your mates ?

no, i have no problem with other people eating it, its not my place to tell others what they should and shouldnt eat!