There’s an interesting article in a recent post on the NY Times Dot Earth blog: “Can People Have Meat and a Planet, Too? The first international conference on manufacturing meat was held earlier this month in Norway. Manufactured meat is produced by growing muscle cells in culture in a laboratory. The technology can produce ground-meat type products such as chicken nuggets and burgers. It is a long way from being economically more feasible than current production. There are also numerous regulatory issues and product safety testing, so it will be years before this becomes a consumer choice issue.

I admit my first reaction was envisioning “Soylent Chicken” and a big yuck!

Taking a second, more practical look, however, one can see some advantages: Cultured meat avoids animal welfare issues (”no animals were harmed in the making of this Happy Meal”) because no animals are involved. Theoretically, cultured meat is produced with less impact on the environment. Because it is produced under controlled conditions, food safety should be higher and nutritional profiles can also be modified and improved.

I’ve been listening to NPR’s Morning Edition series on food shortages and rising food costs worldwide. I was surprised to hear this is the 3rd year in a row that world food production has fallen short of world food consumption. The answer to increased production needs has been more industrialized agriculture; bringing along with it environmental and welfare concerns. There is no doubt that concentrated animal protein production produces environmental pollutants and costs more in terms of fossil fuels than pasture-based production. Contrary to the blanket statement that eating meat is bad for the environment, grazing animals are much more efficient at converting solar energy(via vegetation) to protein than we are.

I am a big proponent (and producer) of local, pasture-based agricultural products. I am also a beef connoisseur; I can describe a unique flavor and texture profile for each animal we have harvested, and even give them “Wine Spectator” type ratings in my mind. For my family and my customers, there is no doubt this is a great option. But what about the rest of the country and the world? My beef is priced equal or just above the top meat-case beef at the upscale local grocery. I can’t sell it any cheaper or I can’t pay my ranch mortgage. Can we feed the world without industrialized agriculture?

The Dot Earth article quotes Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University’s Program for the Human Environment as saying that the trend toward concentrated food production will eventually lead to manufactured meat. When it comes down to it, I think I feel the same way about “cultured meat” that I did about “Textured vegetable protein” when it came out. I don’t think I’ll have any desire to eat it myself, but I can see where it meets some needs.

1. suzannabanana23 Says:
   April 16th, 2008 at 9:51am

   Well, I think that processed chicken nuggets and chicken fingers already taste like “Soylent Chicken,” and that’s one of the few things my chldren will eat. So, like moms everywhere, even as we feed our kids whole grain spaghetti noodles with their Ragu, we’ve got to get into them whatever they will eat. (Even though my husband and I are complete snot-nosed foodies and are eating something fab like wild-caught Rockfish in curried coconut milk with chilis, our children are being served hot dogs and chicken nuggets with plenty of ketchup.) So — I guess my point is that it’s not just the third world erupting in food riots that might eat this food, it’s just as likely to be my kids or, one day, grandkids. And guess what? More power to the evil Soylent Chicken manufacturers of the world! My own mother wouldn’t use a microwave oven when I was little because she was afraid she would irradiate us. I can’t imagine working, taking care of a family and preparing a meal without my microwave. Even if hubby and I are eating high-end locally-grown food ourselves, I’ve got to feed my boys what they’ll actually eat.



2. Sara Says:
   April 16th, 2008 at 11:38am

   Good point, Suzanna. I fed my kids Omega-3 enriched noodles last night with jarred spaghetti sauce, as a matter of fact. It is very possible that the cultured McNuggets could be more nutritious than regular. And if kid will eat them, why not?



3. gloria Says:
   April 16th, 2008 at 6:20pm

   Lois McMaster Bujold wrote the Miles Vorkosigan series, a fantastic science fiction/fantasy tale of a deformed young man from the ruling elite of a militarist planet who, to prove himself, takes on the most impossible tasks as he gallivants from one adventure to another across the galaxy. The cover art is totally cheesy, but this series is a minor classic.

   Anyway, in these books, civilized people only eat cultured food - anything else would be unsanitary and barbaric. Oh, and even children are created in the lab and incubated in mechanical wombs that can be take to safety when worlds are under attack and mothers need to fight. The incubators remove all health risks to mother and child since the mother’s body is not weakened by pregnancy and birth and the incubator environment is totally controlled. Miles himself became deformed after his mother insisted on trying natural childbirth.



4. Sara Says:
   April 21st, 2008 at 9:23am

   In the “odd-bedfellows” department, PETA is apparently going to unveil a $1 million incentive prize for the first one to develop this technology in a commercially viable scale and cost.