Meat without feet

Across the world, roughly 284,000,000 tons of meat is consumed every year.

While meat provides a source of high quality proteins, vitamin B-12 and iron, there are more than a few ethical queries that arise in the course of its production.

For one, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are due to the global livestock industry. Surprisingly, this number is 18 percent greater than transportation gas emissions.

Furthermore, the global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural market.

Factory farming, or raising livestock at high stocking density, has consistently been a controversial issue. Essentially, the animals raised are commodities exploited for profits, exclusively born to be killed for food consumption.

Many believe it is immoral to eat animals because they are slaughtered purely on the basis of our desire to eat them. While eating meat has been a social phenomenon for as long as we can remember, it is not a necessity for sustenance.

Farm factory animals are confined to a small space that not only weakens their bones and muscles, but also encourages the risk of contagious diseases. By eating these animals, humans in turn become exposed.

Not to mention, the farmers in close contact with livestock are even more prone to such diseases, especially to diseases stemming from pathogens released from animal waste.

But due to recent advancement in bioengineering, scientists have discovered a way to produce meat that is made in a lab. By simply taking muscle tissue cells in a nutrient mixture, cells will grow over time, forming over and over into a “biodegradable scaffold” which can then be molded into food.

But to do so requires money for further scientific investigation as well as public interest. And while this seems to be a solution to many current environmental issues, an interesting question still remains. Is the final product considered meat? Does it even taste the same?

As far as taste goes, salts, texture and fats can always be added to enhance the likeness. But whether or not we consider it meat is still ambiguous. Will it be kosher?

Just think, if you are vegetarian, would you allow yourself to eat meat that has been produced in vitro? This means the tissue used to create the product derives from an animal, but has never formed part of a living animal.

Imagine humane chicken nuggets, faux turkey (not Tofurky): “meat without feet.” The future for such novel menus is potentially near.

Considering the innumerable benefits to this scientific pursuit, I think it is something well worth investing government resources and public concern.

The quicker our response, the sooner the environmental issues will be dealt.

­— rscronin@indiana.edu