Lab-grown meat is first step to artificial hamburger

[Jeff7]

If lab grown meat works, what happens to the domesticated animals that were raised for meat?

There's pretty high turnover in that particular job market. I'm sure they'll have no problem finding employment, even as the market dries up.

Darn lab-grown immigrants keep taking the jobs of hardworking farm animals.

I wonder what kinds of meat we could make that weren't possible on real animals.

It'll end up being like Mountain Dew - every few years a new flavor shows up.

 

[crashtestdummy]

However, in a sterile environment it can be done with far less antibiotics. For example surfaces covered
with titanium dioxide. When radiated with intense UV light, bacterial cell walls fall apart. Easier to implement in a production facility than a stable.

Both of those are likely to be biocidal, rather than antimicrobial. The cell culture is going to be far more fragile upon external stresses than the bacteria will be. Your best bet is to do everything in a perfectly sterilized environment. This is possible in small quantities (think cell culture hoods), but is hard to do on a large scale or with any kind of cost-effectiveness.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Both of those are likely to be biocidal, rather than antimicrobial. The cell culture is going to be far more fragile upon external stresses than the bacteria will be. Your best bet is to do everything in a perfectly sterilized environment. This is possible in small quantities (think cell culture hoods), but is hard to do on a large scale or with any kind of cost-effectiveness.

It may very well be that before it becomes large scale production viable, we also have to create a rudimentary immune system. Nobody will say it is easy. But it can be done.


Of course, hyperbolic thinking will give rise to the idea that in the end, we invent : The cow !


A link about how it works :

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050513/full/news050509-14.html

The device relies on titanium dioxide, a compound used in white pigments and found in common household products such as toothpaste. When exposed to ultraviolet light, bacteria landing on a surface of titanium dioxide are converted to a vapour of carbon dioxide and water, along with harmless organics.

Keller says the system should also work against Legionella pneumophila, which causes Legionnaires' disease and is about the same size as E. coli. This microbe is particularly good at breeding in the pools of water that can form inside air-conditioning ducts. "Legionella can be a problem wherever you have warm, recirculating water," says Colin Mathieson, an engineer who deals with disinfection equipment at Wedeco UV Systems, based in Sudbury, UK.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Atlanta, Georgia, estimate that up to 18,000 people in the United States contract Legionnaires' disease each year. Up to 10,000 are thought to catch it annually in Europe. The disease is fatal in between 5% and 30% of cases, they add.

The French scientists plan to test their system on Legionella itself. "We're in contact with some industrial partners," Keller says. "We hope to develop a pilot process in the next two years."

But even if they make the system 100% effective, it won't guarantee freedom from bacteria notes Ian Smith, a consultant for the environmental consultancy STATS, based in St Albans, UK. No hospital system is airtight, he notes. So bacteria could still enter ducts or hospital rooms downstream from the cleaners. "Users should not be lulled into a false sense of security," he says.

The reaction produces free radicals i think.

 

[crashtestdummy]

It may very well be that before it becomes large scale production viable, we also have to create a rudimentary immune system. Nobody will say it is easy. But it can be done.


Of course, hyperbolic thinking will give rise to the idea that in the end, we invent : The cow !


A link about how it works :

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050513/full/news050509-14.html





The reaction produces free radicals i think.

You're missing my point. The process you link to above is just as effective at killing mammalian cells as bacteria (if not more), so having culture plates treated with TiO2 is not feasible. In terms of using it to serilize an environment, that's a needlessly expensive and complicated way to do it. What you really need is ethanol/isopropanol to sterilize the environment, then air let in through a HEPA filter. More difficult is scaling this up in a way that isn't incredibly expensive and doesn't need to be sealed off from human contact (when using a tissue culture hood, only gloved, sterilized hands are allowed inside the hood at any time).

 

[BladeVenom]

Mycoprotein is grown in vats. How much does Quorn cost.

 

[destrekor]

There's pretty high turnover in that particular job market. I'm sure they'll have no problem finding employment, even as the market dries up.

Darn lab-grown immigrants keep taking the jobs of hardworking farm animals.




It'll end up being like Mountain Dew - every few years a new flavor shows up.

:awe:

You know, it's quite likely livestock populations will be slightly impacted in a way we consider "very negative", and in other ways, livestock populations will settle back toward "normal" based on habitat and the natural order of life.

Negative, however, because unless we continue to specifically rear certain species of livestock (we can harvest natural meat AND artificial meat - likely, the "organic" meat will be a very expensive market since it will be more specialized in the future - like any other specialty food), most likely they wouldn't really be able to find a new natural niche. Many of these species were basically bred from fairly small natural populations (in comparison to their status today), but how they've developed into what we raise today, many might not be able to make a position for themselves in the current order out in the wild world of nature.
Honestly, it wouldn't be a big issue, and we need to realize we cannot reach our top potential as the dominant species, if we constantly hinder our progress by worrying about making certain species go extinct.
We aren't above the world, trying to maintain perfect ecosystems in a contained world that we have removed ourselves from: we are a part of this world, and our regular activities DO impact ecosystems. We have to accept that natural ecosystems will adapt to our presence, and that means some will change drastically. Trying to stop it all the time is making things worse for all of us (humans and the rest of the world alike). So our progress means some species lose the game... well, shit happens, and life/nature is a cruel bitch.
All we should focus on is ensuring any changes are for the better, even if there are species making an ultimate sacrifice.

Hell, most of these species will be lost to the test of time anyway (especially once the Earth first becomes completely charred, and then frozen - or will it freeze, then burn, then freeze again? :hmm, so why worry about them, when we need to be worrying about our own status?

 

[William Gaatjes]

You're missing my point. The process you link to above is just as effective at killing mammalian cells as bacteria (if not more), so having culture plates treated with TiO2 is not feasible. In terms of using it to serilize an environment, that's a needlessly expensive and complicated way to do it. What you really need is ethanol/isopropanol to sterilize the environment, then air let in through a HEPA filter. More difficult is scaling this up in a way that isn't incredibly expensive and doesn't need to be sealed off from human contact (when using a tissue culture hood, only gloved, sterilized hands are allowed inside the hood at any time).

I did not miss your point to be honest. But i should have clarified it more.
Sorry for the late reply, busy at work.

I was thinking of a pipelined production.
The location where the meat is produced, before the growth is started, the location is cleansed by intense UV light. This light shines on all surfaces. These surfaces are coated with titanium dioxide. Of course sterilization of the environment has to be done further by using chemicals as you described.
Only then the development of muscle tissue can start with out the UV light or the cleaning agents.
In principle, robots and automation should be used as much as possible. The less humans are present, the better. I remember there are now experimental biosensors developed with specific antibodies to detect specific pathogens. All these different fields of expertise can solve a lot of issues. It is expensive in the beginning but will pay itself when there is a fully automated production line where humans only have to perform routine checks for the quality of the meat and to test biosensors, air filters, fluids and more. And no more manure. No methane, no high doses of antibiotics, no growth hormones. No killing of animals.

But it will take time. For we need muscle with veins to transport proteins and nutrients for the muscle cells to grown and to thicken the fibers while using resistive training. The muscles will need tendons. But in the end it will be worth it. Quality steaks for everyone.

 

[TXHokie]

This looks more promising than the Matrix chickens.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

This looks more promising than the Matrix chickens.

Hell no. Matrix chickens are perfectly viable because we're no doing anything intrinsically difficult. It's a normal chicken thats been lobotomized. It's a natural chicken raised in a weird way.

This has an entire decade of problems to go though to be viable.

 

[dud]

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

Gross...

What's the big deal on artificial meat ... we've had this for years at McDonald's.