Lab-Grown (Cell-cultured) Meat and Poultry: You’ll be eating it before you know it!
It’s going to Expensive Restaurants First….
But you can bet it won’t be long until it’s in a restaurant near you. And if they get production costs reduced, you can also bet they’ll be substituting it without your knowledge.
For starters, just how do we know this product has been approved for sale by the USDA? Why, because the companies that make it have announced it to MSM and said so!
Every article I found by MSM announced this approval by the USDA, and not one of them had a link or specific reference to the USDA itself. Their articles were based on information given to them by one or more of the 3 companies that have been authorized to produce or sell Cell-Cultured meat.
BTW, there are two divisions of the USDA involved, the FDA and FSIS. Here’s the latest link I could find from FSIS if you REALLY want to read it:
I couldn’t find anything of an official announcement from the FDA. Just references that the FDA had mailed “No Question” letters directly to the companies involved, which apparently is the official approval.
There are so many things wrong with this product, it’s going to be hard to keep this a short read, but I promise I will. And you can always read the links I provided if you want to dig in more.
The first thing I always do on a product like this is check to see if there is a patent. Because we know that if there is a patent then it is not a “natural” product. And we know that because “natural” products cannot be patented: they exist in nature.
I searched, and there are actually several patents on lab-grown meat. This is just the first one that came up in the search:
Method for producing tissue engineered meat for consumption
Here’s some relevant information and quotes from the document and comments IN bold by me:
“BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION”
“Meat products are currently produced from whole animals, which is a highly inefficient production method...” Sure, we all know that Nature is so much less efficient than Humans.
“Current meat production methods are also harmful to the environment.” A bunch of random statements stated as fact, but without any reference to sources.
“Another problem with current meat production methods involves food contamination.” And of course, we won’t have any of those problems with Cell-Cultured meat, right?
“SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION”
“In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the meat product is substantially free from any harmful microbial or parasitic contamination.” Don’t you just love those absolute scientific words like “preferred embodiment” and “substantially”? A more accurate presentation of this statement would be “Gosh, we hope there won’t be any microbial or parasitic contamination.”
“In another embodiment of the invention, the meat product comprises muscle cells that have been exposed to an electric or oscillating current.” Hmmm. I wonder what this means?
“Preferably, muscle cells are derived from pluri-potent embryonic mesenchymal stem cells” but “may also be derived from toti-potent embryonic stem cells such as cells from the blastocyst stage, fertilized eggs, placenta, or umbilical cords of these animals.” In other words, whatever they can get their hands on for the least cost.
“The support structure may be made from natural or synthetic biomaterials that are preferably non-toxic so that they may not be harmful if ingested.” What could go wrong? “Preferably non-toxic”? Bold print added by me.
“Natural biomaterials may include, for example, collagen, fibronectin, laminin, or other extracellular matrices.” I’m gonna bet those “natural” biomaterials are made with a non-natural process. There are patents for producing them. This is the same scam the FDA uses on Food Additives.
“Synthetic biomaterials may include, for example, hydroxyapatite, alginate, polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, or their copolymers.” So let’s take a look at just the first synthetic item: Hydroxyapatite. Turns out there’s a disease named after it:
Hydroxyapatite crystal deposition disease.
“Hydroxyapatite (HA) crystal deposition disease (HADD) is a well-recognized systemic disease of unknown etiology. The disease is clinically manifested by localized pain, swelling, and tenderness about the affected joint along with variable limitation of joint motion…”
Of course, I’m sure they’ll get all that stuff out of the part you actually eat. Let’s try it (on you), and we’ll see.
“the support structure may also include adhesion peptides, cell adhesion molecules, or other growth factors covalently or non-covalently associated with the support structure. Examples of the peptides include sequences such as Arg-Gly-Asp or Arg-Glu-Asp-Val. Niklason, L., et. al., Advances in Tissue Engineering of Blood Vessels and Other Tissues, Transplant Immunology, 5(4):303-306 (1997). I don’t know about you, but if it appeared in the Journal “Transplant Immunology”, I don’t think I want it in my food.
“For scaled up production, the preferred method is to use a bioreactor…”
Here’s the definition of bioreactor, in case you didn’t know:
“A bioreactor refers to any manufactured device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms.” Bold by me.
“exposing the muscle cells, muscle tissue, or the meat products in vitro to an electric or oscillating current may mimic exercise and increase the similarity in texture between meat grown ex vivo and meat derived from whole animals.”
Oh, so that’s what it means….
“other nutrients such as vitamins that are normally lacking in meat products from whole animals may be added to increase the nutritional value of the meat. This may be achieved either through straight addition of the nutrients to the growth medium or through genetic engineering techniques. For example, the gene or genes for enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of a particular vitamin, such as Vitamin D, A, or the different Vitamin B complexes, may be transfected in the cultured muscle cells to produce the particular vitamin.”
Definition: “Transfection is a modern and powerful method used to insert foreign nucleic acids into eukaryotic cells.”
Transfection types, methods and strategies: a technical review.
“regulatory factors, growth factors, or other gene products may also be genetically introduced into the muscle cells.”
Can you say GMO?
OK, I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift of this.
Eat this stuff at your own risk.