A PETA Kind of Pork
It all began with Dolly the lamb. Now scientists have taken cloning to a whole new level: meat production. That’s right, in the not so distant future you could find yourself in the meat isle picking up laboratory grown pork.1 Scientists in the Netherlands who started this project call it “soggy meat,” however, I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed the name before it hits the stores as early as 2014.2 The word “soggy” is not an adjective many people want to bite into.
How it’s Produced
Unlike actual animal meat, soggy meat skips the steps where you raise, feed and butcher livestock. Dutch scientists are using the muscle tissue of pork meat to reproduce, or clone, more tissue without having to use actual animals. British Journal The Telegraph describes the process:
The scientists extracted cells from the muscle of a live pig and then put them in a broth of other animal products. The cells then multiplied and created muscle tissue. They believe that it can be turned into something like steak if they can find a way to artificially “exercise” the muscle.3
Although the idea of laboratory grown meat does sound a bit hard to swallow, the method has huge environmental benefits. In theory, it will limit the billions of cattle releasing methane, one of the major sources of the world’s greenhouse gases. It will also save millions of tons of water and ultimately reduce the need to raise and kill animals in factory farms. As for now, the meat has not been tested and scientists are in the beginning stages of turning it into an edible product.
Controversial Questions
A major portion of the soggy meat’s success will be if the public can accept the idea that this product does not come directly from an animal. For the years human kind has walked this earth, we have hunted animals for their meat. To change the process of how we produce meat may be hard for humans to accept. Some questions that have come up are: Will soggy meat provide the same nutritional value as animal meat? What are the health risks? Also, the meat lover must wonder if this genetically engineered soggy meat will taste as good as today’s hamburger.
Since soggy meat is in the beginning stages of completion, these questions may not be answered for a few more years. However, Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University and part of the soggy meat project notes that people will accept the idea if it is under the right conditions: “This product will be good for the environment and will reduce animal suffering. If it feels and tastes like meat, people will buy it.” 4
What do the Animal Rights Activists and Meat Lovers Think?
Many animal rights activists approve of this soggy meat phenomenon. For example, a representative of PETA stated: “As far as we’re concerned, if meat is no longer a piece of a dead animal there’s no ethical objection.”5 Also, many vegetarians are not opposed to the idea, however; some want a guarantee that they are eating artificial flesh.
On the other side of the spectrum are the meat lovers. I am a big fan of meat, and it is hard to picture myself eating pork grown from a lab. However, I am someone who is adamant about environmental protection and I believe that soggy meat could be a great way to limit a major greenhouse gas and save a few animals at the same time.
As for now, researchers in the Netherlands are still improving soggy meat with financial backing from the Dutch government and a sausage company.6 We will just have to wait see how soggy meat backers answer the questions of the public within the next couple of years.
