Laboratory Meat: The New Frontier of Food

Scientist are working on the food crises by bioengineering meat. One scientist, Dr. Vladimir Mironov of the Medical University of South Carolina, has been working on growing meat in a laboratory for over a decade. The scientist who are working on bioengineering meat believe this could help solve the food problems world wide, provide food for interplantetary exploration (if we become that advanced), and change the future of food.

According to Mother Nature News Dr. Mironov has said of his cultured meat, "It will be functional, natural, designed food. How do you want it to taste? You want a little bit of fat, you want pork, you want lamb? We design exactly what you want. We can design texture. I believe we can do it without genes. But there is no evidence that if you add genes the quality of food will somehow suffer. Genetically modified food is already normal practice and nobody dies."

What Dr. Mironov fails to mention is that there are only a handful of scientific studies on the health risks involved with genetically modified foods, there are little to no guidelines for safe production of GMO's, and there is an increased risk for unpredictable toxins and allergic reactions. According to the American Institute of Biological Science, "there are many opinions but scarce data on the potential health risks of GM food crops, even though these should have been tested for and eliminated before their introduction."

One of Dr. Mironov's other problems is that there is no funding coming in for his 'cultured' meat. No funding has been forthcoming from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (a department of the USDA), nor has funding come from the National Institutes of Health. However, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration funded Dr. Mironov's venture briefly and the current funding seems to be from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

PETA has pursued Dr. Mironov for quite some time because of his skill as a developmental biologist and tissue engineer but they have also tried to get others to create an 'in vitro' meat. In 2008, the organization which rallies against animal cruelty, offered a million dollar prize to competitors who could create the first 'in vitro' chicken which would taste like the real thing.

The question that should be asked if 'cultured' meat becomes a viable option in the new frontier of food is; What will happen to the food chain?