Frankenbeef - It's whats for dinner

Tuesday, May 07, 2013 by: Chris Sumbs
Tags: Frankenbeef, lab-grown meats, processed food

(NaturalNews) Apparently, modifying fruits, vegetables, and grains isn't enough. Now scientists are taking the future of genetically modified food to the next level: They've successfully created lab-grown meat. It's been over a year now since Dr. Mark Post invited media into his laboratory at Maastricht University, Netherlands to witness how he's developed the methodology to create lab-grown meats.

Dr. Post invited reporters more than a year ago to demonstrate this process and the product. He was reportedly unsatisfied with the texture and taste and has been working on improvements for the big debut in London sometime this spring or early summer.

Dr. Post told Reuters News, the cost of developing and producing the first "lab-grown burger" was around $345,000. And although mass production of synthetic meat is still years away, Post believes once his technology is fully perfected, synthetic meat may be in your grocer's meat aisle sometime in the next 10 years.

Not just Dr. Post

Another big development in the food game is the concept of 3D meat printing. Also known as bio-printing, this process was originally developed solely for regenerative medicine - such as human limb and organ replacement. Now scientists are using the technology to create food options by growing, or cloning, meat for consumption.

All the lab-grown meat will grow to be the same size, texture and weight. Supporters cite environmental sustainability and lower production costs as motivation.

Just take a moment to envision rows upon rows of containers where meat is simply...growing. And how will our bodies respond to eating meat that has been created from animal tissue, then synthetically developed and grown in a lab?

How do they make it?

Extraction: Dr. Mark Post and his team at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, take muscle stem cells from living cattle through biopsy.

Cultivation: The cells are placed in nutrient broth-filled petri dishes that help the cells to grow.

Expansion: The cells are attached to biodegradable scaffolding platforms where they are "exercised" to promote bulk growth and are then stretched upon Velcro boards.

Combination: The 3000 muscle strips and approximately 200 fat strips are minced together to created synthetic hamburger meat.

Are you getting hungry yet?

Dr. Post and others like him believe Frankenbeef and other lab created meats may be in your grocery store within the next decade. My guess is it will take some time to gain acceptability.

Sources for this article:

http://www.pbs.org

http://www.globalpost.com

http://undergroundhealthreporter.com/lab-grown-meat#axzz2Rd0SHuIn

About the author:
Chris Sumbs is a natural health activist and enjoys writing about the natural lifestyle and healing benefits of holistic remedies. Visit his website www.undergroundhealth.com for more great articles on these topics. You can also shop for thousands holistic remedies in the Underground Health Natural Health Store or visit the Underground Health Facebook Page.