With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply. And you could do it in a a way that's better for the environment and human health. In the long term, this is a feasible idea.

- Jason Matheny, University of Maryland doctoral student.

Impressive enough, isn't it? The idea of producing artificial meat originated from experiments for NASA space missions but is only now being pushed too a whole new level: mass production for human consumption. Culturing meat is to produce an edible product that tastes like beef or poultry, pork, lamp or fish and which has both the nutrients and the texture of natural meat. It should be noted that nothing serious has yet been done with the production of artificial meat.

However, two different techniques have already been put forward by Jason Matheny's team for large-scale meat production. The first one consists of growing the appropriate meat cells in large flat sheets on thin membranes. The sheets of meat produced can then be stretched and stuffed together once the membranes are removed. Stuffing the sheets together will increase the meat's thickness.

The second technique is to grow the cells on small beads which expand with slight changes in temperature. The meat produced will therefore be stretched as the beads expand.

Artificial meat is a decent idea; it clearly has its advantages. For one, the nutrients in the meat can be controlled. For example, most meats contain much Omega 6, which can cause high cholesterol. With artificial meat, the Omega 6 can be converted into Omega 3, which is a healthy fat. Another advantage of artificial meat is that it could reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock.

However the obvious benefit of artificial meat is that it can help match the ever-increasing demand of meat around the world. Along the same vein, one may even fantasise that artificial meat may, one day, help in alleviating famine in some countries.

Overall artificial meat does appear to be a great product. However it will have to face the same questions as its brother, genetically modified food, including the big question of whether they have any side-effects on the human health.

And between you and me, are you prepared to eat meat which has been cultured in a lab? Seriously.

Khalil A. Cassimally — that's me — can be reached by dropping an email at [email protected]. Alternatively you can IM him via MSN/Windows Messenger or Google Talk, using this same email address. You may also visit his blog if you wish.

Other science issues (not too complicated don't you worry) can be found at:

Not Scientific Science Archive

NotScientific

11.01.07 Front Page

Back Issue Page