Pork From A Petri Dish?

The prospect of cultured or "in vitro" meat produced in a lab is one step closer to reality, according to a report in The Independent. Scientists in Holland have taken cells from a live pig and replicated them in a broth "derived from the blood products of animal foetuses," creating a "soggy form of pork".

Mark Post, a professor of physiology at Eindhoven University who's leading the research, told the Independent:

“We need to find ways of improving it by training it and stretching it, but we will get there. This product will be good for the environment and will reduce animal suffering. If it feels and tastes like meat, people will buy it.”

At present there is a question mark over the taste as laboratory rules prevent the scientists eating the fruits of their labour.

If worldwide demand for meat and dairy products doubles by 2050, as the UN predicts, the resulting increase in greenhouse gas emissions could have dire consequences. Will cultured meat prove to be a palatable solution? The results thus far, described as "rather like wasted muscle tissue," don't sound terribly appetizing. But the project, which is backed by a Dutch sausage manufacturer and funded in part by the Dutch government, could yield "sausages and other processed products being made from laboratory meat in as little as five years’ time."

Mmm, I can hardly wait.