Steaks of the Future: Is Meat from the Petri Dish the Way to Go?

   


Technology and science has improved food products and the food industry over the years with various improvements such as canned foods, refrigerators, microwaves, and so much more. However, with this new scientific breakthrough you may not even need to have real animals to have meat. Written by Jacob Bunge, this article tells how Memphis Meats Inc. are growing animal cells for the purpose of making them into full size slices of steak. While this started around 2013 from originator Mark Post, back then it had mix reviews on the taste and quality of the food which made Post have to try and improve it. The companies making this say that by growing meat with cells and bioreactors they can make it so that businesses won't have to put in antibiotics in their food products anymore and will have less waste produced through this process. This will also greatly reduce how much America spends on meat from its giant 186 billion dollar spending, with only 2 million dollars being used to fund Memphis Meats.
    While on a purely qualitative perspective this is great news for feeding poor countries and killing less farm animals, I do think that this will take a while for people to get used to. Many people these days in America and other 1st world countries want their food to be wholesome and natural, so having their dinner originating from a test tube may not appeal to them. Paranoid people will be worried about this "franken-beef" as they will be worried of what could be in this strange new cuisine, but the companies that are developing it say that they will have the FDA check it first before shipping it into store shelves. Even though that Mark Post's idea of cell growing meat is for the greater good of humanity, people's natural tendency to want something more natural will make this an uphill battle to bring into the market with positive results.

Article URL link:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sizzling-steaks-may-soon-be-lab-grown-1454302862