Sci/Tech Race to serve up artificial chicken for a $1m prize

[The Helper]

A small group of people will meet in Washington later this year for what they hope will be a lunch to change the world. The meal should consist of fried chicken and nothing else, but while it may look like chicken, have the texture of chicken and even taste like chicken, it will never have lived or breathed.

Five years ago Peta, the world's largest animal welfare group, gave scientists until 30 June 2012 to prove they could make "cultured", or laboratory meat, in commercial quantities. The first scientist to show that artificial chicken can be grown in quantity and be indistinguishable from "real" chicken flesh will be awarded $1m.

"We really do not know who will apply," said Ingrid Newkirk, president and founder of Peta. "Five years ago I thought no one would. But I cannot tell any more. There is a real chance someone will claim the reward. A lot of researchers are keeping very quiet and have their cards close to their chest. Progress is being made. They are overcoming obstacles. We are very optimistic."

Leading the race to show that it is possible is Mark Post, head of the department of vascular physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Post has been given $300,000 by the Dutch government and by an anonymous donor, believed by Newkirk to be a media magnate, to develop his stem cell research. He has claimed he will produce a synthetic beefburger this year.

Race to serve up artificial chicken for a $1m prize

Five-year challenge to make meat that tastes like the real thing reaches a climax, writes John Vidal

www.theguardian.com

 

[xPass]

No more bird flu

 

[seph ir oth]

The future?

[youtube]fnozDdpaFik[/youtube]

 

[Wiseman_2]

Oh god, I just watched The Fifth Element for the first time the other day. Such a mess of a film, but a very enjoyable one... and maybe it got something right with artificial food, even if we don't get any of those cool hover cars or anything

 

[FireCat]

He has claimed he will produce a synthetic beefburger this year.

It's REAL meat. Just saying

 

[Accname]

Yeah, but this meat is produced in a lab, it doesnt feel anything or thinks about stuff.
Eating this meat is just like eating somebody who is lying in a coma. Its almost dead but it doesnt realize.

 

[Wiseman_2]

Yeah, but this meat is produced in a lab, it doesnt feel anything or thinks about stuff.
Eating this meat is just like eating somebody who is lying in a coma. Its almost dead but it doesnt realize.

Wait, so regular meat feels pain when you eat it?

 

[Prometheus]

Not sure if morally accepting for a vegetarian to eat this.

 

[camelCase]

Never understood why vegens would eat that synthetic/organic/whatever-it-is-called meat =/
I mean, if they want to *avoid* meat, why eat something that looks like meat?
Because they actually *crave* meat? Or want to seem normal?
They already, I dunno', made a vow to not have meat; god dammit, stick with the decision!
/rant
/off-topic

Some people already have a hard time accepting GM food..
I think synthetic food is going to be harder for them to accept, more protests in the world, yay..

*Reads the article*
Oh, some commenters are already expressing their disgust =x

 

[YourFace]

No one knows how this synthetic meat will affect the body, so there's no way I'm going to eat it. Things mass produced in a lab have only caused more e-coli out breaks and obesity

 

[dark typer]

of all the things i hate... its synthetic chicken

 

[Accname]

I would eat it. If thats not gonna kill me then something else will, doesnt matter in the long run.

 

[Wiseman_2]

I would eat it. If thats not gonna kill me then something else will, doesnt matter in the long run.

Same here. And if they can make the process quick enough and cheap enough, then surely that is a tangible solution to reducing world hunger problems?

 

[Inflicted]

And now the real question,
Who gets to eat it?

 

[Accname]

Same here. And if they can make the process quick enough and cheap enough, then surely that is a tangible solution to reducing world hunger problems?

The only "world hunger problem" is the way first world countries deal with the food. Because actually there is far more food on earth then mankind needs right now, it is just badly distributed and alot of it is just going to the trash instead of giving it to the people who need it.
This will not change anything about it because our behaviour is not going to change because of it.
I think just more and more meat will end up in our garbage instead of being eaten and eventually this will result in a giant mass of rats populating our big cities and spreading a next pleague which will decimate the western worlds population magnificiently.
Hey, how about making a movie out of this?

 

[FireCat]

The only "world hunger problem" is the way first world countries deal with the food. Because actually there is far more food on earth then mankind needs right now, it is just badly distributed and alot of it is just going to the trash instead of giving it to the people who need it.
This will not change anything about it because our behaviour is not going to change because of it.

Yeah Indeed, It would not make any difference.
There are billions undernourished people in the world today. Who would buy the thing to everyone who are "undernourished" everyday?

 

[DDRtists]

No one knows how this synthetic meat will affect the body, so there's no way I'm going to eat it. Things mass produced in a lab have only caused more e-coli out breaks and obesity

So what you're saying is that if it's made in a lab, it automatically has to be a bad thing? Just because it's made in a lab, doesn't mean it's instantly bad. Lets give it some time before we call it out for being horrible, it's not even being produced yet.

I would eat it. If thats not gonna kill me then something else will, doesnt matter in the long run.

I invite everyone to check out what is put into most McDonalds and many other fast-food dishes. Mechanically separated chicken and other processed meats aren't exactly "non-lab foods".

Yeah Indeed, It would not make any difference.

How is someone finding out how to produce artificial chicken at a very low price not going to change things?

 

[FireCat]

It depends on the low price ! "$1 Dollar" Now that's What I Call low price!
Then maybe everyone can afford buy it !

 

[Accname]

Its not so much about buying things but about shipping them. We have more then enough food here in europe, we could potentially all give some of our food to the poor people in africa.
But imagine how much more money we would need to get the food down there within a reasonable amount of time before the food goes off.

 

[FireCat]

we could potentially all give some of our food to the poor people in africa.

Well, it's not Just africa, there are poor people everywhere.