Test Tube Meat No Longer Science Fiction, Dutch Researchers Say
Meat grown in a laboratory may help ease environmental damage linked to rising demand for animal protein, said two Dutch universities developing such products.
In-vitro meat is “no longer science fiction,” Wageningen University said in a statement on its website. Meat is becoming a “problem product” because it uses about 70 percent of farm land and has environmental and animal-welfare issues, according to Wageningen, which is working with its counterpart in Utrecht.
“The big advantage of cultured meat is of course that there are no more animals involved,” Wageningen University said in the statement.
Researchers are using stem cells to grow muscle tissue in a project led by Henk Haagman at the University of Utrecht, while Wageningen will study the ethical and social issues of cultured meat. The idea was developed by Wim van Eelen, a Dutchman, in 1950 and patented in 1999, Wageningen said in the statement. The species of the stem cells was not identified.
The livestock industry overall accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions, which scientists say cause global warming, the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization said in a report in 2006. As incomes rise, diets are expected to include more meat and processed foods, according to FAO.
The first in-vitro meat on supermarket shelves is “a long way off,” Wageningen said.
“The project will be a success if in four years time it’s clear under what conditions consumers will eat in-vitro meat,” Cor van der Weele, an applied philosopher who is leading the joint project, said in the statement. Meat produced in a laboratory is “not a meat replacement, it’s real meat,” Van der Weele said.
“I’ve been calling it in-vitro meat recently, that’s the technical name,” Van der Weele said. “Cultured meat isn’t appealing and creates too much of a ‘yuck’ reaction.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.
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