Pretty soon we won’t need cows for meat at all

Ever since we heard the news that it was possible to create a beef patty in a test tube, called ‘cultured meat’, people have been grossed out by the idea.

However, scientist turned lab chef, Professor Mark Post from the Physiology unit at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, told the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association in Darwin last week that pricing for this alternative food resource could soon be comparable with traditional beef production.

The process involves taking a ‘starter cell’ from a cow through biopsy (commonly stem cells), and in the name of science, multiply this cell until it resembles the pale red sloppy mess of beef mince.

*Unfortunately it is not that easy, with beetroot juice (whaa?), saffron and breadcrumbs added to create the look we expect.

18 months ago, Professor Post created a trial beef patty using this technology at the meaty price tag of 250,000 euros, which was dissected on London television here:

https://youtu.be/bkbLVamdUEY

Since this scientific breakthrough, Post now estimates that creating cultured meat costs around $80 per kilo.

“From a small piece of muscle you can produce 10,000 kilos of meat.”

According to the Daily Mail, Post sees this udderly exciting idea as rare at the moment, but in a decade, we may be mi-steak-ing the T-bone for the test tube, as meat prices, and taste, should be comparable across the board, benefiting greatly the global community of low-to-middle class consumers.

“The more traditional meat consumer, and probably also richer and younger segment, will tap into this much sooner than people in India and China, who for the first time ever can afford meat and will go for the lower cost traditional meat sources.

“It’s essentially the same tissue in the end, so the taste has to be similar.”

So now that you’ve herd, hold on to your hides, and let’s get veal-ly excited about the future of beef.

Words by Nichola Soraghan