by FoodBizDaily.com staff writer
November 30 2009 - Scientists have grown a form of meat in a laboratory for the first time in a development which could eventually provide an artificial option to real meat, reports claim.
In a project backed by the Dutch government and a sausage maker, the researchers in the Netherlands have created what was described as soggy pork.
However, they believe that it can be turned into something like steak if they can find a way to artificially "exercise" the muscle, according to www.telegraph.co.uk.
The product has not been tasted yet but the Telegraph said it is believed that the artificial meat could be on sale within five years.
It could also help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced from livestock.
Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University, quoted in the newspaper, said: “What we have at the moment is rather like wasted muscle tissue. We need to find ways of improving it by training it and stretching it, but we will get there.
“This product will be good for the environment and will reduce animal suffering. If it feels and tastes like meat, people will buy it.”
Meat and dairy consumption is predicted to double by 2050 and methane from livestock is said to currently produce about 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases.
Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas and direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases.
Last month, Lord Stern of Brentford, a leading authority on global warming in the UK, said that meat was wasteful and harmful to the environment and people should consider turning vegetarian to tackle climate change.