Would you eat "test tube" beef?

I was watching BBC-NEWS tonight and they had a story about a Canadian scientist who is at work producing beef "grown" from cow stem cells in petrie dishes. The idea is to eventually mass produce beef for human consumption that is grown without the need for large tracts of land and huge amounts of grain. It would be produced in factories, tho I suppose a "token" herd of cattle would have to be ranched somewheres to provide the stem cells...at least at first, until the cows are cloned?

The cells currently being produced are muscle cells and they would be mixed with fat (perhaps, tho the story didn't say) that could come from any possible source.

But the question here (finally?) is: would you want to eat beef that is grown WITHOUT benefit of the full-sized cow and it's need to "roam"?.

Yes. With eggs in the morning and rice at night.

Yes.

Can I have mine medium-rare?

I'll take mine Medium with a cognac peppercorn cream sauce.

... no wait... a juicy hamburger.

.... ooh wait... a philly cheesesteak.

..... dang it, no... a slow-smoked roast with a Texas dry rub and a maple glaze. :drool:

as long as it's cheaper than the current stuff, and just as tasty.

The story said it was costing the "inventor" $300,000 to get a hamburger from a test tube...tho he was shooting for a lower price once the idea had the kinks worked out and was as much if not more concerned about whether the current method of producing beef for supermarkets could be maintained with the scarcity of land in some countries.

I rarely eat red meat now....

I'm a brisket guy myself. Throw some secrete rub on it, toss it in the smoker at about 185 for 10-16 hours, and keep any and all sauce to yourself. But then again I am from the BBQ capital of the world - God Bless Texas.

What about test tube bacon?

Snowdoggie wrote: What about test tube bacon?

winner winner bacon dinner

Gearheadotaku wrote: as long as it's cheaper than the current stuff, and just as tasty.

That's my take on it too. It's a little weird, but so are most "natural flavoring" ingredients these days. Not exactly an animal rights sort, so I'd need some other incentive (most likely financial) to want to eat this.

So, is it vegetarian? I mean, it's not beef, it's grown in a tube. Who doesn't want tube steak?

You would think that if you're going to all the trouble to grow it that way that it wouldn't be just any old cow, but one with superior meat and flavor.

So are they growing a whole cow or just select portions?

Filet prices will go down.

Derick Freese wrote: So, is it vegetarian? I mean, it's not beef, it's grown in a tube. Who doesn't want tube steak?

OP should have linked an article.

It's basically stem cells that they put in a "syrum" pulled from the cow to grow.

Because of the weird way it grows, the only use in the forseeable future, is to then grind it up with "grown" fat to make hamburger meat.

Growing steaks and the like would require much more work and a pumping blood supply.

Pumping blood supply?

Talking with a vegan friend, I asked her if she could eat meat created in a Replicator (a la Star Trek: TNG); she vehemently said yes, and that she eagerly awaits the day.

I'm conflicted over it. On one hand I love the idea that we don't have to have the huge slaughter-yards and that we're not breeding animals to just have a life of misery before they have a piston shoved through their brain and are disassembled production-line style (Ford got the idea for the assembly line from slaughterhouses).

On the other hand, I know that corporations are profit-driven, so my dietary needs and best interests are secondary to making money. I look at this with the idea of a company like Monsanto running it and I want nothing to do with it.

BEEF ARE TASTY. THEY'RE MY FAVORITE ANIMAL.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: BEEF ARE TASTY. THEY'RE MY FAVORITE ANIMAL.

Don't let your cats know that.

MG Bryan wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: BEEF ARE TASTY. THEY'RE MY FAVORITE ANIMAL.

Don't let your cats know that.

Depends, is he Korean?

(I keed, I keed).

ReverendDexter wrote:

MG Bryan wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: BEEF ARE TASTY. THEY'RE MY FAVORITE ANIMAL.

Don't let your cats know that.

Depends, is he Korean? (I keed, I keed).

While I do not eat red meat simply because I find it unappetizing, this is a weird dilemma for a real vegetarian. Is meat grown in a tube the same as meat from a cow?

Granted, meat grown in a tube is not abused (or at least can't feel abuse) so the "moral" implications of raising and slaughtering beef is gone, but it is still red meat

Hopefully they can make it naturally "lean" but still have good flavour.

Interesting to note from the above Star Trek Reference. Vulcans, which are vegetarians, do not eat replicated meat.. even though, logically, it is really not meat at all

An animal is slaughtered for its stem cells, it's just the lab is able to produce substantially more meat from the stem cells of one animal vs how beef a slaughterhouse would produce.

z31maniac wrote:

Derick Freese wrote: So, is it vegetarian? I mean, it's not beef, it's grown in a tube. Who doesn't want tube steak?

OP should have linked an article.

I saw it, too. Here ya go:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16972761

For me, there's a certain "ick" factor involved. I guess it beats Soylent Green, tho.