Being a distrustful soul, as well as an old experience one, I'm fairly certain it will at some point be forced upon us. Whether it be thru hook or crook. Maybe they will raise the price of authentic meat to where most cannot afford, while simultaneously lowering the cost of lab grown, or maybe they will fix laws and regulations so they don't have to label clearly, or maybe they will start blending it into ground meats. Or not required to tell you at the fast food burger joint (wasn't McD sued for using potatoes instead of apples in their apple pies. Back in the 70's). Either way, if I know American greed (and I do), and politics, if there is money to be made, and a congressman/woman invests... laws will be passed and things will be hidden.
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Some here are likely already aware... last Wednesday.... (while everyone was misdirected by submarine stupidity).
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@TheCounterofQ That USDA news led to my initial post. One Fellers Ranch partner owns a butchershop, and he sent a similar article, with a comment that he thinks the days of small butcher shops are numbered. I wanted to talk him off the ledge, so I did a bit of research: US per capita (real) meat consumption is actually up, and the fake meat roll-outs have not been what those companies projected. (He knew those things, but still believes fake meat is going to put a big dent in the industry.)
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I don't care what they grow in a lab, it won't take away from me eating REAL meats.Comment
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The plant based meats are already losing market share. They're not as good, so, only gonna pick off the occasional non-plant based human. The market share is limited, and it's already retreating from fast food menus and store shelf inches.
Lab grown has some appeal to some, but, for the moment, and likely for the future, will remain more expensive on a per pound of nutrition basis to replace cows. Cattle are underrated in terms of calories per input. Ruminants will be hard to beat as a whole, converting low grade inputs into quality calories.
The thing I'd be worried about is that younger generations are being seduced by the plant based lifestyle on somewhat dubious plant based diet advantages. Frank Mitloehner and Peter Ballerstedt are two folks I follow and respect on this issue, with Ballerstedt the Sodfather being the ruminant advocate, and Mitloehner an animal science environment guy. Grass is the thing man, and we're not talking lawns. Cows have a bad rap, but also there's some less than great operators who do the industry as a whole no favors.Comment
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The only way to get fake meat is to highly process something to seem like real meat. High processing is not good for the body when comes to food.Comment
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I think it will help millions of poor malnourished people all over the world meet their protein needs. I also think it will be popular in processed foods in countries like America. I don't think it will have any effect on American meat eaters that aren't interested.Comment
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It is a good point but there are many hurdles to be overcome beforehand. One is inadequate transportation infrastructure within a country. As ships are the most cost effective transport means, distance from major ports is a major problem in many countries, especially Africa. Then there is refrigeration and the reliability of power to run it. Until those issues are improved dry sources of protein such as beans, soy protein powder, and cereals are the best way to provide protein in many areas.
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The coffee company I work for sells an impossible breakfast sandwich. While I would never pay for it over a traditional sausage sandwich, I am impressed at how good they have made it taste. They will not get me away from my real meat!!!Comment
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I have not and would not ever buy it. Taste, quality and not wanting to contribute to the BS are my main reasons.
Many of the people that want to eat these things are worries that meat is bad for you.
Then they forget to look at what is in these creations that make them "edible". Far worse than anything meat does to you with out all the benefits of meat. If you don't want to eat meat, fine. Do your thing. Making fake meat because you choose not to eat real meat if the definition of insanity to me.
Vegans love to talk about how it's more environmentally friendly. Which is laughable to say the least.Comment
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There are definitely 2 distinct things we're talking about here though. Lab-grown meat is meat and imitation meat is not. The former is presumably just as healthy and very likely easier on the environment given our ever-expanding population. It may well help to greatly reduce hunger and malnutrition around the world. The latter is just highly processed food for first-world people. It's no different in my mind than processed foods that I already eat but try to limit it because it's junk food. -
I don't disagree with you here. If lab grown meat is actually more environmentally friendly, then there certainly is an advantage there. As an outdoorsman, I certainly can appreciate that. Lab grown meat has a long ways to go in my mind before I will consume it. I guess that is what I was trying to say here. Are our fixes really better than our current problem? Or are we simply leaving one problem for another? At this point, IDK..... Attjack
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Personally, I'm not interested, but I'm too old to change much. However, the world continues to evolve (how's the New Bedford whaling industry doing these days)? The "farming" of commodity meats is not "laboratory" meats only because live animals are used, but in every other way, its "laboratory" grown. In this video of poultry "farming" there's nothing that looks like a stereotypical farm, but 75% of the video shows the "laboratory" equipment used for environmental control, feed, water, sanitation, vaccination (even of the unhatched eggs), etc. After typing this, I'm headed to the local farm store to get a couple of yard birds and some local pork chops.
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C'mon guys. Keep this fascinating debate civil. No ad hominem attacks.Comment
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So I have read quite a bit about this and tasted many products. There is a LOT of investment going into faux meat (made from veggies), and lab grown meat (grown from animal cells). Both are fascinating and I think they will eventually get to a point where they can compete flavor wise. The big problem is getting it scaled to where it can be made/grown cheap enough to compete with real meat. The other issue is that faux meat is the single most processed food in the store, more than Cheetos. How will that fly with consumers?Comment
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I think there's two very different things here. Plant-based imitation meat has likely hit a plateau - it's processed, it's not healthier and it's not cheaper. There are also other veggie burger options.Originally posted by Meathead View Post
Aside from price and scaling issues, lab grown meat will face the uncanny valley problem. The "uncanny valley" issue in graphics is that people react just fine to obviously digital faces. They react fine to digitally generated faces that are just like the real thing. But if a face looks very very real but isn't quite, there's actually a revulsion reaction.
Lab meat will need to either be in products like ground meat where it's probably easy to make it match real ground meat or it will have to really nail the imitation of, e.g. a steak. If it's very much like a steak but a bit off, I wonder if it will run into that reaction.Comment
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Yes, faux meat has hit a plateau. Everybody tried it when it was new and sales were brisk as the pipeline opened and stores stocked it. So it appeared there was demand. But as we learn that it is not healtier, that it is not quite as tasty, how it is made, and because prices are still high, sales are off and there have been layoffs at both Impossible and Beyond Meat. They need to make it taste better and get the price down. Beyond Meat stock hit an all-time low in May (10.02) down from 20.22 in Feb and 235 shortly after launch. Impossible is privately held but it has postponed its IPO.Comment
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So they scrape cells taken from an animal, such as a cow or chicken, and then multiply that into cuts of meat in bioreactors. I guess we are just to assume that the animals which they remove these cell's from are safe to eat. Sure....But then the whole concept is to reduce the harmful greenhouse gases and deforestation as a result of meat production.
I choose to not subscribe to this way of thinking and will choose to continue to purchase meat locally or process it myself. The argument has been made that this may allow certain countries or those living in poverty to have food and I think if this is the only alternative then fine I would not want to turn my back on someone in need.Comment
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