Man-Made Meat: From Science Fiction To Science Fact

The idea that humans could manufacture and grow animal parts in a lab has existed for decades in science fiction literature. In the 1952 novel The Space Merchants, for example, humans grow animal tissues as a source of food. Even as far back as 1932 people were discussing the issue in a science fiction context.

But now it looks as though this creation of science fiction is ready to make the transition into reality. Scientists in the Netherlands announced last month that they had successfully grown strips of muscle tissue in a petri dish. This tissue will be combined with blood and lab-grown fat over the summer to create an artificial hamburger in a matter of months. The cost of this single hamburger is expected to fall in the range of $300,000 – just a bit more expensive than your typical Big Mac.

So is this sci-fi creation truly the future of meat consumption? Scientists working on similar projects around the world say that yes, it is, but that there are also several hurdles that must be overcome before such a product is marketable. Foremost among these hurdles are costs (which much be substantially reduced) and taste (the meat still needs to be flavored so as to insure appeal and authenticity). Even despite PETA’s $1 million contest encouraging researchers to engineer commercial chicken meat by the end of 2012, these hurdles could take years to overcome.

But, someday, we can expect that artificial meat will become a consumer reality. As the world’s population grows larger, the amount of usable land declines, and the efficiency of animal harvesting continues to plummet, a laboratory-based manufacturing process will likely become increasingly economical. In the research world, companies such as Huntingdon Life Sciences will see the long-term advantages of using home-grown in vitro samples. Among the rest of us, meanwhile, the mechanized cost reductions and touted health benefits – both for individuals and for the global community – will likely lead, slowly but surely, towards mainstream adoption.

Artificial meat, although now possible to create in the present, still remains a product of the future. But unlike in the science fiction stories of old, this time that future is more a reality than a fantasy.

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