In Vitro Meat as an Emerging Technology (Article Sample)

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In Vitro Meat As An Emerging Technology
In vitro meat which has also been referred to as lab-grown meat, cultured meat or cruelty free meat is the kind of meat that is grown in a controlled environment in a lab where it has limited interaction and use of living animals. This type of technology was developed with the aim of keeping the slaughtering of animals out of the process of meat distribution. For the last six years, there have been significant efforts in attempting to spread the word regarding in vitro meat as well as attempting to grow successfully meat that is fit for consumption by humans.
In his book Sandler (54), describes in vitro meat production, as meat that is developed from culture cells that are basically stem cells obtained from live animals. These cells are then put into a cultured media where they undergo growth independently and not relying on an actual animal. The in vitro meat procedure has four parts. First, the starter cells are obtained from the neck of an animal like a cow in a slaughterhouse. Secondly, the growth medium that is fetal calf serum is also collected from a slaughtered pregnant cow. Then there is the obtaining of material for an edible scaffold. This is where the growing cells will attach themselves. Finally, there are introduced to a bioreactor which is a controlled environment where temperature and other aspects of growth are controlled in order to create a fitness-like state for the muscles to grow (Sandler, 56). In simple terms, the procedure includes the starter cells, which are in most cases skeletal muscle cells, being put in a culture media that is preformulated for growth. With the edible scaffold, the cells walls start growing around. At this point, the whole thing is placed in a bioreactor. In this condition, the cells form tissues that are highly similar to natural muscles containing collagen, elastin and fat. Although animal slaughter is essential in this procedure, it is required on a very small scale.
Of late this form of biotechnology has attracted massive interest. There has been increased demand by customers for cultured meat. According to Einsiedel, Edna, and Kieran (24), other issues that have influenced the use of this technology include some ethical issues related to greenhouse pollution, factory farming and tissue engineering. Although in vitro meat procedures are usually complex, they are associated with many benefits than limitations. Meat production methods that are currently used require an enormous amount of resources in form of land, water, food materials among other materials. Additionally, these methods have adverse effects on the environment such as greenhouse air pollution and deforestation.
In using in vitro meat technology, meat can be grown in a smaller geographic location, resources required to grow are minimal, chances of infection by diseases are minimal, there are faster growth rates of tissues and cruelty in animals is significantly reduced. With this technology, new meat products can be created through manipulation of conditions resulting in desired meat texture, taste preference and nutritional value (Ròcklinsberg, Helena, and Per Sandin, 77).