this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2024
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As a thinking experiment, let us consider that on the 1st of January of 2025 it is announced that an advance making possible growing any kind of animal tissue in laboratory conditions as been achieved and that it is possible to scale it in order to achieve industrial grade production level.

There is no limit on which animal tissues can be grown, so, any species is achieveable, only being needed a small cell sample from an animal to start production, and the cultivated tissues are safe for consumption.

There won't be any perceiveable price change to the end consummer, as the growing is a complex and labour intensive process, requiring specialized equipments and personnel.

Would you change to this new diet option?

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[–] communism@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You haven't mentioned if there are any ethical concerns with this new meat; e.g. environmental cost of the production process, what kind of human labour is required to create it, who is providing that labour and under what conditions are they working.

Provided I had no ethical concerns with it, sure, but a lot of modern innovations tend to have these issues and I assume lab-grown meat would have these issues too.

Edit: Also, I'm opposed to animal captivity, so if there's an ongoing need to collect samples from captive livestock then no, I wouldn't. If it's a "collect it once then it keeps reproducing from the lab samples forever" type of thing then sure.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Jesus, people bitch about processed foods but have no issues with whatever shit has to be put into this to make it grow?

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[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago

I would definitely eat cultured meat as long as it’s not too expensive.

For seafood yes, but I'm unlikely to bother regrowing the necessary gut biome for other meats

[–] Openopenopenopen@lemmy.world 62 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (8 children)

In a heartbeat. Although I’d prefer meat alternatives to lab grown meat. Like impossible burgers.

I don’t eat a ton of meat, and I’d like to eat even less. this option would help me feel like I’m not making animals suffer just so I can survive.

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[–] bruhduh@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] Birdie@thelemmy.club 19 points 2 days ago

I'll move to it in a second. Protein with no need to slaughter animals would be so fantastic for the animals, the earth, and people.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Only if I could put my own DNA in it so I could eat my own ass

[–] legionguy@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

sucking your own meat would be crazy

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[–] DashboTreeFrog@discuss.online 36 points 2 days ago (9 children)

There's tons of plant based proteins already. Having already added more vegan meals to my diet I think this would just be another option for me and one more for novelty than anything else

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[–] r0ertel@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

No, i'd go vegan before i'd eat cultured meat. I'm not opposed to it and it's probably better for the economy and environment, but I have a mental thing about it. Granted if I had to catch and clean my own meat, i'd also probably go vegan. Maybe I'm just squeamish about my food.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorta sounds like you already think meat is gross.

[–] r0ertel@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm pretty picky about the meat I do eat. It's the fat and gristle that I can't stand. After a pork chop, it looks like a dissection. I don't like to eat around bones. If I think about it too much, old probably end up vegetarian, which would probably be better for me given my other health issues. I don't think anybody ever died from eating too many vegetables.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

This actually happened to me too for quite a long while. I knew I would be vegan for maybe 10 years before I decided I should just do it one day. Life's weird like that. I will say its pretty important to have fresh veggies and fruits nearby or else its practically impossible no matter what.

[–] argarath@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What is the mental thing you have against lab grown meat?

[–] r0ertel@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

It sort of grosses me out. I don't know how to explain it.

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[–] akkajdh999@programming.dev 22 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yeah. If it's the same, of course. I don't like killing cats for food.

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[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 2 days ago (4 children)
[–] Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago

Rimworld player found

[–] seang96@spgrn.com 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

For clarification, human meat or humane?

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] seang96@spgrn.com 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The answer I was hoping for!

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 2 days ago (4 children)

You really thought I'd eat inhumanly sourced meat?

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[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 27 points 2 days ago

Definitely. I see no downsides.

I don't eat very much meat as it is. But if I could drastically reduce the suffering inflicted when I do I would not hesitate.

[–] GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can I see the lab?

no

Darnit...

Don't ask to see a slaughterhouse...

[–] bblkargonaut@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] yuri@pawb.social 16 points 2 days ago

once it’s affordable, yeah almost immediately i reckon. i already go for plant based meats whenever i can find them for a reasonable price!

[–] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 days ago

As long at it wasn't even more destructive than normal cultivation (very much tbd), absolutely.

I had no qualms about switching to Beyond Meat either.

If we could figure out how to make a decent ribeye out of peas and seed oils, I'd prefer that to lab-grown too.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I would be wildly optimistic, but very cautious.

I'd want to see multi-year randomized control trials comparing the bioavailability of not only protein, but also vitamins and minerals from the synthetic meat and liver, to natural meat and liver.

Assuming the RCTs show no issues, then I would happily move over.

Modern meat products are on a spectrum as well, it's not just having the meat, it's what the meat ate before it became me that's important. Grass-fed, versus grain fed for beef. Insect, and protein for chickens, grain fed for chickens etc. antibiotics, hormones being supplemented into the feed to improve yields.

One massive problem the industry globally suffers from is overpromising. Just like multivitamins, which are very poorly bioavailable, and mostly peed out, they promise a lot but don't deliver much.

Factors I would look for:

  • can somebody sustain life eating only the synthetic meat for multiple years?
  • oxidative stress, and oxidation in the synthetic food?
  • The temptation to engineer sugar, and carbohydrates, directly into the meat to increase sales yields.

Green sustainability:

  • can the synthetic meat be produced globally?
  • Will poor farmers in the middle of nowhere be improved or hurt by this? Will they have access to the synthetic meat?
  • in the event global logistics fail, like an a war, will moving over to synthetic meat severely hurt critical infrastructure and ability to feed populations?
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[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 5 points 2 days ago

The only thing I'd wait for is for the process to be refined enough to be more eco friendly than just eating real meat. I'd do it, but until there's proof of it being more sustainable and won't tank my blood thin/thickness levels (blood thinners sometimes suck), I would be down to try it at the very least.

Though I would receive resistance in changing my diet until either my dad changes his eating habits or I move out on my own because my dad absolutely refuses things like plant based meats, so I know he'd most likely resist lab grown meat as well. It's also hard for my mom and I to switch to a healthier dinner diet since both my dad and older brother wouldn't dare change their diets to something like a Mediterranean or some other healthier because they can be picky eaters (especially my older brother).

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I don't really care about lab grown meat. Haven't eaten meat for years, don't really miss it that much since the plant based alternatives have gotten so good.

Give me lab grown dairy.

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[–] LiamTheBox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

500 protein bars...

As if the facists will allow it...

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 13 points 2 days ago (3 children)

protein isn't the issue, it's all the bio-available vitamins and healthy fats that have already been converted.

if it's a 1 for 1 replacement, depending on how we deal with the massive and now useless animal populations, I would totally switch.

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[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sup. No need to keep doing it the old way at that point.

Hell, you could have boneless meat, so it's even better.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

But the bones are how you make banging soups....

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If it were indistinguishable from other meat sources, and priced similarly (preferably less!), then of course. I expect it will take a very long time to get to that point, though.

[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

How does it taste?
How much does it cost?
What’s the true environmental impact?

If it’s the same, less and less, sure I’d be all for it.

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[–] Unmapped@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 days ago

Its the only way I would eat meat again. But don't think it will ever become a normal part of my diet again. The plant-based meat options are just as good and are healthier. They will only get better too.

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