Happy Atheist Forum

If at some point in the future there were a way to create 'beef' from stem cells cultured in a vegatative media would you eat it?

For arguments sake the 'beef' is produced in a lean mince form suitable for hamburgers, meatloaf and the like. It's indistinguishable chemically and biologically from a 'natural' product except it's microscopic structure is more regular. The production process is entirely vegan in nature and the original donor cell is perpetual cloned so there is no additional animal product input.

if they were safe for consumption, I would. Theres too many humans around and not as many animalss

I don't see any immediate reason why not.  Not only would it ease pressure for clear-cutting pastureland that is going on in the tropics, it would ease the suffering of animals subject to industrial farming, and, presumably, reduce the ecological damage such factory farms produce.

I agree with both the above comments, I would have no problem eating it.

All depends on whether or not I have enough land to pasture my own cattle.  If I do then ya'll can have the cloned meat, I'll take my grass fed sirloin steak medium with mushroom sauce ;)

I don't see a problem with cloned meats honestly, just not thinking they are for me.

Quote from: "KDbeads"All depends on whether or not I have enough land to pasture my own cattle.  If I do then ya'll can have the cloned meat, I'll take my grass fed sirloin steak medium with mushroom sauce ;)

I don't see a problem with cloned meats honestly, just not thinking they are for me.

Well I agree if you're looking at 'cuts' as opposed to mince then one would probably have production issues, but that level of cloning may be possible at some point as well. I'd do medium rare for a sirloin and rare for a fillet  

Me? I'll eat anything so long as it's clean and safe.  I grew up on a farm in South Carolina, I worked for my uncle on a hog farm, for a cousin in his processing plant, and did a many a hog killings in the fall.  If I'll eat sausage and "puddin" I'll eat just about anything.

So, yes, I'd eat it, oh and it would have to taste yummy...  

Sure I'd eat it. Can't think of any reason not to.

I wouldn't limit myself to the cloned stuff though. Mince is okay, but nothing beats a good steak.

So far acceptance of the idea has been fine. Would one continue to eat it? Well that appears to be down to the more subjective issues such as taste and texture. The comments here have been quite open minded, which is probably due to the nature of the membership here. I'll have to go and ask on some different forums.

I don't see a health issue, myself, though there are some here in America who swearing up and down that GM/cloned foods must be bad for you.  Myself, I think it's leakage from the vegetarian/whole foods/organic movement.  A category error.

I would.  If it was healthy and tasted good, I would love it.  I always feel a little bad about eating meat anyway.

Quote from: "Martin TK"If I'll eat sausage and "puddin" I'll eat just about anything.

A bit more respect for the "puddin" please.

I'm looking forward to trying lab meat.
Hopefully it will be better than mince.
The process of mincing doesn't benefit the texture, and often the quality isn't the best to start with.

Quote from: "The Magic Pudding"

Quote from: "Martin TK"If I'll eat sausage and "puddin" I'll eat just about anything.

A bit more respect for the "puddin" please.

quote]

Sorry, no disrespect of the puddin.. LOL.. I actually like Puddin, both kinds.

With enough reason to believe it was safe and healthy (as healthy as meat can be) I would be all over it! I used to be a vegetarian, and have since lapsed, but I would jump at the chance to have my steak and eat it, too.

Quote from: "Anthemyst"With enough reason to believe it was safe and healthy (as healthy as meat can be) I would be all over it! I used to be a vegetarian, and have since lapsed, but I would jump at the chance to have my steak and eat it, too.

Yeah, this is the boat I'm in as well.

I bet cloned meat will never be available because so very few people will initially buy it.

Ethically / morally I would have no problem with it.  In fact I would see such a development as beneficial for human health and even the planet, given the energy and resources used and waste produced in the meat industry.

I will make a prediction - cloned or "vat grown" meat will face STIFFER health regulations than butchered meat due to its newness and a general "eww" factor amongst regulators, despite the production path of butchered meat being at least as "eww" if not more so -- even for many meat eaters when they look into it.

But would I eat it?  Probably not, because if it is, as you say, identical to the "real thing", then I would probably dislike the taste, smell, and texture of it.  I have lost the desire for real meat after 20+ years as a vegetarian - I recently cooked some mince for my godson (the things I do for love) and to my surprise I found myself literally gagging at the smell.

But my vegetarian wife says she is counting the days to when she can eat pork again, but without ethical issues.  We shall see...

I'm thoroughly omnivorous.  I drive by a farm, the animals run for cover.

Quote from: "Ellainix"I bet cloned meat will never be available because so very few people will initially buy it.

Well on the basis of the reception on this thread and at RatSkep and Tweb I don't think that would be the case. Of those people who have responded nobody has objected except where they feel meat is bad for one full stop.

The issue of uptake will probably be down to a number of things.

The initial cost brought about by amortising research costs and production set up.
Taste, texture and perceived quality.

IF the production precess is fundamentally cheaper than that of the current product then it will undoubtedly find a niche in the market, there is always a place for the cheapest product, it's a simply perceived primary selling feature. Of course what the producer will want to do is what some beer producers do, they up sell the image of a beer so it carries a larger premium on its selling price than its actual production cost reflects. Stella is a classic case of this, it's one of the most expensive lagers to buy but one of the cheapest to produce! You gotta love marketing!  So the job the marketeers will face is to up sell features like safety (no mad cow disease), effectively vegetarian, no animals were harmed in its production, better for the environment (if it is), always consistent, a premium low fat product, while down playing the 'synthetic' aspect of the product.

While the initial uptake of a product is important it is not the whole story. Consider the car, TV and PC. All had tiny initial uptake and entered the market via niche routes but how many households now have all three and how many of those that don't own all three still aspire to owning all three?

IF the production process is fundamentally more costly than that of the current product then it will a more difficult secondary feature/benefit sell. Based on what has been said here and elsewhere the initial target market could well be vegetarians, which is almost counter intuitive!

So we will have to wait and see.

Quote from: "skevosmavros"Ethically / morally I would have no problem with it.  In fact I would see such a development as beneficial for human health and even the planet, given the energy and resources used and waste produced in the meat industry.

I will make a prediction - cloned or "vat grown" meat will face STIFFER health regulations than butchered meat due to its newness and a general "eww" factor amongst regulators, despite the production path of butchered meat being at least as "eww" if not more so -- even for many meat eaters when they look into it.

But would I eat it?  Probably not, because if it is, as you say, identical to the "real thing", then I would probably dislike the taste, smell, and texture of it.  I have lost the desire for real meat after 20+ years as a vegetarian - I recently cooked some mince for my godson (the things I do for love) and to my surprise I found myself literally gagging at the smell.

But my vegetarian wife says she is counting the days to when she can eat pork again, but without ethical issues.  We shall see...

I think your FDA testing issue is quite true, as a 'synthetic' product and the first of its type it would undoubtedly come under very intense scrutiny.

I've always wanted to eat vat grown meat.

That's a firm yes from me.

So, an unlimited font of beefy goodness? I'm in. Wonder if it'll be as good as Hufu...

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Feosmedeiros.files.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fhufuxn0.jpg&hash=977447f87a140c0aaa8bb3c0d54b866a0dd7622c)

If it looked like meat, smelled like meat, and got all nice and brown when it was grilled, you bet I would!