Would you eat synthetic meat?

[Webbo]

Quote

 

In just two years, you may be tucking into a 'lab burger' and 'test-tube chicken' if one company has its way.

Memphis Meats has come a step closer to commercialising synthetic meat, thanks to a £13 million ($17 million) investment.

Venture capital firm DFJ, which previously backed Tesla, SpaceX and Skype, secured financial support for Memphis Meats from a groundbreaking group of investors.

This includes Microsoft mogul Bill Gates, Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson and Cargill, one of the world's largest agricultural firms.

The 'clean meat' company has already produced beef, chicken and duck directly from animal cells, without the need to raise and slaughter animals.

The investment brings to the total funding raised by ethical food firm Memphis Meats, based in San Francisco, to £17 million ($22 million). 

Memphis Meats plans to use the funds to continue developing its products and to accelerate its work in scaling up clean meat production.

It hopes this will reduce production costs to levels comparable to, and ultimately below, conventional meat costs. 

The company says it expects to quadruple its headcount and has already begun growing its team of chefs, scientists, creative and business people. 

Memphis Meats says it hopes to bring clean meat products to consumers across the world within the next two to three years.

Its first line of products will include hot dogs, sausages, burgers and meatballs, which will all use recipes developed by award-winning chefs.

It revealed its first product, a meatball, in February 2016.

In an email to Bloomberg, Branson said: 'I’m thrilled to have invested in Memphis Meats.

'I believe that in 30 years or so we will no longer need to kill any animals and that all meat will either be clean or plant-based, taste the same and also be much healthier for everyone.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4818850/Memphis-Meats-receives-13-million-grow-clean-meat.html#ixzz4qhKAuVWx 

 

How do people feel about this, especially the veggies on here? Seems a bit creepy to me but I wouldn't rule out trying it.
 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Yep, 100%. Hate the cruelty in the meat industry

[leicsmac]

If it doesn't differ from animal meat in taste and texture...why not? It's likely economically, environmentally and healthwise a better option.

[davieG]

Unless you can afford the most expensive cuts the meat these days tastes like it's been manufactured, which it probably has anyway. Certainly the stuff I buy compared to what i remember eating in the past.

[joachim1965]

Absolutely, why not? Got to be a damn sight tastier than quorn  meat.

[AKCJ]

If it was cheap and tasted the same why not?

[Charl91]

Would give it a try!

[Kitchandro]

No. It's completely unnatural and it's impossible to recreate everything about real meat.

 

Meat is fine. We've been eating it for thousands of years.

[Guest Sharpe's Fox]

No I'd rather limit my consumption of meat to two or three days a week and make meat a treat.

[CollinsLCFC]

I would try it, be interesting to see how it would be.

 

[Itsthejoeker]

If it contained the same nutritional value and tasted like the real stuff why not

[Arriba Los Zorros]

46 minutes ago, Kitchandro said:

No. It's completely unnatural and it's impossible to recreate everything about real meat.

 

Meat is fine. We've been eating it for thousands of years.

Not trying to start an argument but there is a lot wrong with this.

 

• Firstly, grains have been a staple of human diets for thousands of years rather than meat.

 

• Various sickening ethical issues in the mass production of meat. Difficult to explore because it makes you feel evil eating any meat but if you or anyone is interested try watching the (harrowing) documentary  below.

 

• Environmental effect of eating and producing meat.

 

• Constantly growing population accustomed to eating high quantities of meat that is becoming more and more difficult to supply

 

Synthetic meat sounds a brilliant way of combating a lot of the above problems and anybody not even willing to try it is probably in my opinion scared of change, science, or plain and simply not caring about the planet and animal welfare.

 

[ScouseFox]

don't see why not 

[Captain...]

In theory yes, I eat quorn and meat and even vegetables. I don't doubt there will be some scandal in the synthetic meat process soon enough, i.e. It causes cancer, isn't ethical, uses more energy than real meat. Once it is cheap and safe I'll tuck in.

[indierich06]

If it's cheaper, healthier, more environmentally friendly and less cruel, then why not?

[Strokes]

I'd try it no problems, not too bothered about ethics but if it tastes good, why not?

[Carl the Llama]

I happily eat quorn as my main 'meat', being an alternative to buying the mass-produced cheap meat from animals kept in stalls no bigger than my toilet so the real question for me is will it be competitively priced with quorn?  If so, and if it tastes alright, then get in my belly.

[Harry - LCFC]

Yes. Eventually it'll be better environmentally, more humane and, importantly, cheaper to produce than regular meat. The great majority of us will be switch to it when it passes these hurdles.

[Bryn]

I would definitely be interested in eating synthetic meat, the meat industry is unnecessarily cruel and awful for the environment. I hope synthetic dairy comes along too, the dairy industry is possibly the cruelest of them all.

[Jattdogg]

Time to become a butcher and get my own farm of edible animals

[Uranyl Yellow]

At a superficial level, then sure, though I can forsee a consequence that hasn't yet been mentioned. In this age, life (at least in the midst of 'civilisation') exists largely because of its commercial value. If it no longer has commercial purpose, then what is the point of sustaining it? You could viably argue that it's better to be dead than exploited, though try telling that to a dodo.

[Carl the Llama]

Just now, Uranyl Yellow said:

At a superficial level, then sure, though I can forsee a consequence that hasn't yet been mentioned. In this age life (at least in the midst of 'civilisation') exists largely because of its commercial value. If it no longer has commercial purpose, then what is the point of sustaining it? You could viably argue that it's better to be dead than exploited, though try telling that to a dodo.

Are you suggesting pigs and cows will go extinct? No doubt their numbers will drop if we're no longer farming them for their meat but look at all the conservation movements around the world for endangered creatures which we don't eat.  They'll be fine until we build over the land they live on.

[Uranyl Yellow]

And in this age of the incessant quest for 'growth' how long do you think it will be before we build over the land they live on? Besides, they are domesticated animals, I'm not even sure they could exist as wild creatures, or even would be tolerated to exist.

[Turbogre]

No I'm a carnivore 

[Carl the Llama]

18 minutes ago, Uranyl Yellow said:

And in this age of the incessant quest for 'growth' how long do you think it will be before we build over the land they live on? Besides, they are domesticated animals, I'm not even sure they could exist as wild creatures, or even would be tolerated to exist.

Around 5 years at a guess.

 

Cows 'wouldn't be tolerated to exist'  fvcking hell pal