Future Food:
In Vitro Meat
Sors Pretorius
“We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast
or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”
Winston Churchill, Fifty Years Hence, The Strand Magazine (December 1931)
I
n vitro meat, also called victimless meat,
cultured meat, tube steak, cruelty-free meat,
shmeat, and test-tube meat, is an animal-
flesh product that has never been part of a
living animal with exception of the foetal calf
serum taken from a slaughtered cow. In the
21st century, several research projects have
worked on in vitro meat in the laboratory. The
first in vitro beef burger, created by a Dutch
team, was eaten at a demonstration for the
press in London in August 2013. Cultured
meat is prohibitively expensive, but it is
expected that the cost could be reduced to
compete with that of conventionally obtained
meat as technology improves. In vitro meat
is also a cultural issue. Some argue that it is
less objectionable than traditionally obtained
meat because it doesn’t involve killing and
reduces the risk of animal cruelty, while
others disagree with eating meat that has not
developed naturally.
History
The theoretical possibility of growing meat
in an industrial setting has long captured the
public imagination.
In vitro cultivation of muscular fibres was
performed as early as 1971 by Russell Ross.
Indeed, the abstract was smooth muscle
derived from the inner media and intima
of immature guinea pig aorta were grown
for up to 8 weeks in cell culture. Th