Am I the only one alarmed about manufactured meat?

#41

The market could be huge. Many meat-adverse religions might allow the consumption of cultivated meat as well.

(Robert C) #42

The time for alarm has not been reached (I think).

As written above - it will probably be advertised positively to attract vegans looking for the nutrition without the whole killing something for dinner thing. People not wanting actual meat for whatever reason will have a chance to pay extra and get the flavor, texture etc. but not actual meat.

Here is the time to be alarmed - when fake meat cannot easily be discerned by smell / taste / texture / observation from regular meat AND when the price of producing it falls below the cost of producing regular meat.

Then businesses will push for all sorts of label changes like “derived from natural sources” or if the content is 51%+ regular meat, it can just be called meat etc. Just as restaurants have no trouble buying the cheapest oil they can get away with - if you can’t tell if the meat is fake without a chemistry set - well…alarm time.

People that want no animal based food along with business looking to make an extra buck will try to convince the government to go easy on the rules because anything else is unsustainable or cows will create hole in the ozone layer or … .

(icky) #43

With 4.6 billion animals slaughtered in the US alone for food each year, which is 4 and a half million chickens every day and 60,000 pigs daily, I do think ethics is a cause for concern.

Pigs are considered to be equally intelligent as dogs and I think it’s only a quirk of habit, that we choose to eat pigs instead of dogs in the west.

Scorning ethics in food consumption ends up being detrimental to ourselves.

The bulk of meat production comes from industrial/ mass farming, where animals are given irresponsible amounts of medication and antibiotics, to keep mass and cheap farming methods viable. Also, the meat of animals that are raised in cramped, stressful, unhealthy conditions - many of whom never see a single day of sunlight/ fresh air/ the outdoors in their lives cannot be producing anything near “healthy” meat.

Also, by feeding animals the grains we are avoiding on keto, we are producing additionally unhealthy sources of meat, as most farm animals are physiologically not designed to be eating grain-based feed.

These production methods are as “unnatural” as any alternative protein source.

And given that we humans are animals like every other mamal, I do think that animal welfare is an issue that should concern all - and most of all, everyone who eats meat.

Unless people are sourcing local, organic, grass-fed, cruelty-free meat (which most cannot afford to buy) any “alternative” meat/ protein source is going to be equally healthy/ unhealthy and natural/ unnatural.

(Chris) #44

I want to reiterate I’m not a fan.

However, if a Star Trek replicator were to be involved…I could possibly be swayed.

#45

YUP! Let the morons drive down the supply for ACTUAL meat and make my Ribeye’s 30% cheaper! Bring on the fake meat!

(Steve) #46

For the ethical argument - if we switch to grass fed cows, then their quality of life will be considerably improved from the current grain fed lots that exist in the US.

Edit: If you want to start throwing numbers out in terms of how many animals are killed?? Umm. They wouldn’t live if they weren’t being raised for food. So the “life” argument is moot. (oh, and pigs are actually MORE intelligent than dogs…but that’s something we’ve just become used to. Pigs are also what people would taste like if you want to make them a little less appetizing) :slight_smile:

If everyone went Keto, then they’ll also figure out that they can’t eat two pounds of steak twice a day (aka American-sized portioning) - sorry guys, but the portion sizes at your restaurants is just nuts!! Who needs that much food!? :slight_smile: If we get everyone eating reasonably sized portions of healthier foods, then we actually won’t need as much meat produced - so we can actually go back to grass fed beef.

Considering how up-in-arms the veggie community has been about GMO’s, it’s really surprising to see them being ok with highly engineered food alternatives. Why do they think this is any better for you than corn that’s had a couple genes changed to be a little more resistant to mould or parasites?? (heh…not that grains are good for you at all, but you get my point) :slight_smile:

I’m willing to consider the case of lab grown meat, as I think long term, unless we start shipping people off of this planet, we’re going to run out of room. We won’t have the acreage for raising of livestock anymore. BUT, we need to do our due diligence to make sure that it is down to the cellular level identical to the real thing. We make fundamental changes in our nutrients, what will we evolve into over time??

(icky) #47

No, neither the numbers nor the slaughter-and-suffering arguments are moot.

The fact that most mass-farmed animals are only “alive” because they are intended to be eaten degrades them to mere objects.

If this is how we treat living beings and our planet, then we human beings are in a sorry state.

The suffering of mass-produced animals is real, even if the fact that they are “alive” is only because it is a matter of convenience for us.

(Steve) #48

I’m not a proponent of animal cruelty by any means, but I grew up on a beef and pork farm. The cows definitely had a better quality of life than the pigs, in that they spent most of their time outside in the summer months. (just try to get them to go outside in the winter…)
For pigs, it’s less desirable currently. They reside in pens. Typically a sow and her litter per pen.
Getting to grass fed as the only source will give them all a better quality of life.

Your “life is sacred” belief is just that. Your belief. Everyone is entitled to their own, but you’re not going to convince anyone otherwise with an emotional argument that is devoid of logic.

(icky) #49

I never said life is sacred.

I just said that animal cruelty is not irrelevant.

(Larsen) #50

Yes it is scary, but I already feel that it is just a matter of time before real meat is disappearing. Meat is bad thing right now, everyone thinks it causes diabetes, heart disease, environmental damage and the list goes on.

I don’t feel sure that I can buy meat easily in like 5-10 years.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #51

I highly doubt meat will disappear. It’s all supply and demand. As long as there’s a market for it, farmers will provide it. And there will continue to be a demand for real meat.

(Brian) #52

While I appreciate the efforts to eat plant based, I too often see people being very ill informed about the nutritional value of what they’re eating. I see people do things like preparing a squash dish to look and taste a little like a meat dish and somehow make the mental leap that it will have the same nutritional profile as a meat dish. Doesn’t work that way.

(Steve) #53

One of the things that the medical community that is in support of Keto talk about is the “tipping point” that it takes to change the majority of opinion around a topic - the number that they were talking about was as little as 3%. They think that they’re getting near that.
Once we get organizations like the AMA saying high fat, low carb is the diet of choice, everyone else will just fall into line. Then we’ll see big food get behind it - the bread makers will start making nut-based breads - and with their millions they have available for R&D, they’ll come up with other, less expensive healthy alternatives for us.

I really think in 20 years no-one’s going to be eating grains anymore…well, rice maybe, but most grains are so inflammatory I think by then the medical associations will be advising against them.

#54

i think we are less than half way to 3% but growing fast

(Kerin ) #55

Manufacturing meats is a large part of culture today. Oddly the farming folks get a bad rap these days.

(Angela H Ellis) #56

What bothers me most about all of this is the fact that this product is not natural. It also contains allergens, which could in-turn cause leaky gut etc. I deal with kids at work every day that have issues partially attributed to the crap in the food chain. If we don’t figure out how to educate and get people back to the basics we are doomed as a society.

#57

Just came looking for this topic…

Came here due to a news article I just read about the FDA regulating this the same as animal based meat. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/3/9/18255806/fda-usda-lab-grown-meat-cell-based-vegan-vegetarian

First, to the OP. I don’t think Impossible Foods uses cell-based meat. The Impossible Burger is a plant based taste alike.

My main question is, will cell-based meat have saturated fat? Since that is what a ketonian needs for energy. I’m fine with this meat, if it will meet (see what I did there) my keto nutritional macro requirements.

(Chris) #58

It’s soybean-oil-based, meaning prolonged eating of this stuff will kill you slowly.

But what about the micronutrients that beef contains?

#59

I have no idea. But, if it’s lab grown meat why wouldn’t it have the same micro’s as real meat? Isn’t is started from stem cells of actual animals?

I’d really like to know more information about it, before I dismiss it out of hand.

(Brian) #60

I don’t quite see how the lab grown meat would have the same nutritional profile as an animal that’s been raised in the sunshine, that’s eaten grass, that’s had biological processes going on in it’s gut that we can only begin to wrap our brains around, and we’re thinking it’s going to be identical to what’s grown in a lab?

I just can’t see how it would work out well. That’s not to say they can’t grow something a person can eat and get full on in a lab. But actual nutritional profile? Actual nutrition available? I’d definitely want to see a whole lot of research and testing done before I’d want to consume it personally, even then, I really wonder…

Just my thoughts…