Netherlands – From an economic and environmental perspective, meat has some problems. Animals consume a great deal of resources in their growth and they release a large amount of methane, a greenhouse gas. There’s also the whole ethical debate: is killing a cute snuggly animal permissible if it tastes really good?
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Researchers in the Netherlands may be able to sidestep ethics and solve some of the environmental issues with their latest creation – pork cells cultured in a petri dish.
This artificial meat is grown from myoblasts (special muscle cells which repair damage) incubated in a solution derived from the blood products of animal fetuses. Sounds gruesome, but scientists hope to eventually switch to a synthetic medium for culturing the cells.
Mark Post, the head investigator for the project at Eindhoven University of Technology, believes that the artificial pork could be ready for use in sausage in as little as five years.
We’ve had artificial meat in other forms for almost a decade. Scientists at Touro College in New York worked with NASA to develop an artificial fish fillet for astronauts on long space voyages.
In that experiment, fish muscles were coaxed to grow in a solution after being sliced off of goldfish.
In contrast, the new Dutch work is so promising because the pork grown does not require any animal to be injured during production.
If ultimately successful, the Eindhoven technique may lead to a whole range of artificially grown animal products including seafood, chicken, and beef.
wouldn’t tofu be much easier and cheaper?
its moshichas time
When moshicha will come will be allowed to eat chazir maybe its this kind
This could revolutionize the kosher meat industry. Take a starter cell group from kelber glatt (beis yosef glatt with churmos of the rema, kosher even according the sephardim and Briskers) cows, grow meat, no shechita issues, no treifa issues, no treibering issues, no gory PETA videos.
Eeew. Here I was hoping it would be parve… (Isn’t that what TVP is for?)
Whether an animal grows in a petri dish or authentic womb, the animal will still need to consume resources to grow.
Probably in ten years scientists will tell us that petri dish grown animals aren’t as healthy as naturally grown animals.
“scientists from touro” – Is that some kind of joke? There are no scientists in Touro. Is this whole article some kind of “purim Shpeal” on chanukah?
sounds disgusting
Will have an artifical hechsher too? Now can we drink our artificial milk with our artificial meat?
time for me to go back to vegetarianism….
Let me get this straight. They have found a new way to make pork. “Coaxing” – is that like cloning in a nicer suit? And so I can now have cloned goldfish or pork on the menu? (chas v’shalom). It is still animal by-product, no? So even if there isn’t schita (or is there?) – isn’t still a trayfe base material creating more trayfe? Since I’m not planning on a prolonged trip into outer space in the near future, I’m hoping they will have “artificial gefilte fish”. I agree – tofu, tempeh..lots better.
Besides, what will all the health food nuts say? “Oh..great…some more artificial what-ever in the mix”. And don’t forget the Muslims – those Dutch muslims are just not going to be happy about another way to make edible pig, either – oy.
why isisnt it ever min hachai
Also don’t forget just because they started with a cell from a pig does not mean you could not do the same thing with a cell from a Cow or chicken or any animal you wanted. This idea has been a staple of Science Fiction for years, it not shocking that someone out there is working on it.
I would assume that it would have the halachic status of not being meat any more than stuff made from Tofu or the like. But I am not a rabbi and that is just a guess so CYLOR.
“Animals consume a great deal of resources in their growth and they release a large amount of methane, a greenhouse gas. There’s also the whole ethical debate: is killing a cute snuggly animal permissible if it tastes really good? “
Isn’t this a contradiction? If animals are so bad for our environment bec. of all of the methane they release…..shouldn’t killing them (whether for food or any other purpose) be a good thing?
doesnt sound any “healthier” and it sure don’t sound kosher!!
Haba min hatamei tamei, so artificial pig would be treif. But doing this with beef could be a bonanza.
Wow soon we wil all be able to eat n Mcdonals and KFC
I am sick of liberals trying to act like humans aren’t part of the environment! Animals are meant to be eaten that’s why god put them on this earth. People are at the top of the food chain. If we don’t consume animals they will over populate.
will it be glatt or stam kosher