We are told that progress is an upward curve. That it will always be better than it is now. That we will be richer, more beautiful, healthier and therefore happier. Sure, that would be cool, yet reading certain news stories makes one doubt. Take synthetic meat for example (also called in vitro meat or cultured meat).
The concept itself has a hard time sticking in our minds. It is about meat that has never been attached to any animal, Muscle fibers that have been grown in the laboratory, in a cell culture fit for purpose. It sounds like science fiction, something reminiscent of the Star Trek food generator, yet it is a real thing, which Is approaching our tables with rapid steps.
This technique has been used for the first time in 1971 by Dr. Russell Ross, who had succeeded in recreating smooth muscle tissue derived from pig stem cells.
In 1998 Jon F. Vein has registered a patent in the U.S. for the production of artificial meat tissue suitable for human consumption, also adding fats and creating a production system that could also create fish substitutes if needed.
In 2001, Dr. Westerhof of the University of Amsterdam, together with two other colleagues, applied for a International patent for a process using a collagen matrix into which muscle cells are grafted, which are subsequently induced to divide and reproduce in a liquid nutrient solution.
In 2005, the first scientific article on the subject was published in the journal "Tissue Engineering."
In August 2013 a team of Dutch scientists created the first hamburger in vitro, put it on the grill, and ate it. The articles at the time do not specify whether with ketchup or without.
So the technology is already there, fortunately it is still quite expensive, and so it is not cost-effective to produce meat in this way, which would cost a few tens of thousands per kg. But we do know, though, that one thing that technology does well is precisely the lowering of industrial costs, which are inversely proportional to the mass diffusion of the product. Especially if some bigwig in the hi-tech industry is involved, such as Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google and whether theworld health organization officially declares that in the long run (natural) red meat is potentially carcinogenic, like cigarettes.
Some vega-vegetarians might object that with synthetic meat it will be possible to save the lives of billions of animals each year. That Chickens, turkeys, cows and pigs will no longer be tortured and killed. Sure, we agree, that would be a great thing. Yet man, ever since he has existed on earth, a few steaks now and then he has always had, who are we to change that? Oh, yeah, that's progress.
Sources: Wikipedia.org