Avoiding Lab-Grown Franken-meat

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Lab grown meat is starting in restaurants. But with over a hundred companies signing on to produce it, it certainly will be making its way into the meat aisle and prepared convenience foods.

Who knows if it will even be labeled as such?

The simplest way, in my opinion, to avoid Franken-meat is to grow your own stock. Or to buy directly from the farmer or butcher.

But if that is not feasible, buying bone in cuts of meat, may be the best bet we have.

My grandmothers would butcher whole chickens, regularly. That's how we had various cuts of meat available.

Whole chickens are often the cheapest chicken option to buy at the store. It only takes a few moments to cut one apart, and then package it for storage.

Here's a video of how to cut one up in under a minute:

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Rib eye steak is deliciously tender and rich. It's often very expensive. But if you acquire a full 20 pound rib eye from a wholesale chef store, it can be only a few dollars per pound.

Here is a video on how to butcher one yourself.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Rib eye steak is deliciously tender and rich. It's often very expensive. But if you acquire a full 20 pound rib eye from a wholesale chef store, it can be only a few dollars per pound.

Here is a video on how to butcher one yourself.

You can also filet the ribs away to have ribs and steaks.

 

[AdamG]

My medium term plans include buying land, and raising chickens (for eggs primarily) and rabbits (for meat). Of course the chickens will need culling, so some of them for meat as well. And possibly ducks, some eggs and rare meat from them as well. Larger cuts (such as prime rib) I do always go for bones-in, my ulterior motive is (1) red meat just tastes better that way, and (2) if I want boneless, skinless chicken breasts, I can use the bones/skin to make broth.
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The idea of franken-meat not needing to be labeled (at least in restaurants, which is likely) is rather scary to me as well. I'm certain I'd taste the difference and not like it. I'm sure it is close, but my tastes are sensitive, and if it was never alive ... yeah.

 

[Progster]

Lab-grown meat is very expensive and unlikely to become mainstream in the near future, in my opinion. I don't have anything against it - it might be better for the environment and for me would avoid some of the sensory issues I have with meat from an animal, but on the other hand, who knows whether they could be any side effects of its production or to your health? Would it come under the category of processed food? Would it be acceptable to vegans/vegetarians? Many unknowns.

 

[Slime_Punk]

My prediction is that this is going to be the next evolution in GMO frankenfoods. It's going to be cheaper to produce, fast-food chains will buy it up, school cafeterias will use it, and people are going to get even fatter and sicker than they already are and have no idea why.

From what I've read already, here in the US, nobody's going to need to write 'GMO meat' or any kind of identifier on fake meats, meaning you'll never really know which one you're buying at the store.

I hope I'm wrong about my prediction, but this doesn't look good.

If anyone wants to know how bizarre stuff like this happens in the US, this Youtube channel does a great job of breaking it down while keeping it entertaining. It's seriously no wonder why most of us have ended up with health problems and everyone seems to get better when they move abroad. Even our 'health foods' are laced with toxic chemicals that are always on the brink of being labeled carcinogenic (like aspartaime), but you're deemed a complete nutcase if you say it out loud.

Sadly a lot of people would rather blame each other for being fat and sick rather than seeing how engineered it all is.

 

[Shevek]

I'm quite baffled at people putting extra effort into eating flesh, natural or artificial. That was the health food of the stone age, before we had trade and preservation to get a healthier diet. Vegetarians are over-represented at the Olympics, and under-represented in hospitals and morgues. Now that humans are totally dominating the planet, we should not act as if there is an infinite amount of land to support us.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Meat is the most nutrient dense food on the planet. It is made of the exact things our body is composed of.

When an agricultural field is plowed or sprayed or harvested, every animal in that field is killed, for acres and acres and acres of land.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I find myself repeatedly falling back on a few common wisdoms:
(1) All things in moderation
(2) It's not what you do, but rather how you do
(3) Perspective and context
(4) This too, shall pass
(5) Most "problems" are of our own creation

So, I have yet to find or hear of an exclusively vegetarian or carnivore that is "healthy". Those that call themselves that, and are healthy, when it comes down to it, are not exclusively one or the other, will take supplements, and will have other little "life hacks" that make it all possible. I am reminded of my own experience with fasting. If you read the scientific literature, many studies will say it doesn't work any better for weight loss than calorie restriction, that is, until you get into the methods behind the studies and realize that the "fasting group" did not achieve a ketogenic state because the fasting group needed to fast, not 6-8 hours (as was done in the studies), but rather 12-18 hours, or more. Furthermore, because the calorie restricted group was still eating in a "fed state", they lost both fat and muscle, and had a lot of loose skin. Whereas, fasting losses are primarily fat, and spare muscle tissue, and had tight skin, so the body composition is quite different. "It's not what you do, but rather how you do." Some doctors will warn of electrolyte imbalances during prolonged fasting, and say it can be dangerous, until you realize that most people who do prolonged fasts also take an electrolyte supplement. Furthermore, they seem to neglect all the many studies of Muslim folks who fast during Ramadan, and eat one meal a day and all the documented health benefits. They neglect the fact that up until some 150-200 years ago, the vast majority of the populous never ate any more than one meal a day. They also neglect the studies of nomadic African tribesmen who will walk, hike, and run for days without food before they kill an animal to eat. Talk about the potential for dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. Yet, humans have been doing this sort of thing since the dawn of man. Hmmm.

What we have is the food and pharmaceutical industries capitalizing upon the ignorance of people, their short historical memories, and the corporate marketing propaganda being bombarded upon people from the doctors in med schools, even making financial contributions to med schools, to the commercials on television, to well placed adds on all of our computer and phone screens. They subsidize all the nasty, artificial sweetened, hormone spiking, preservative-filled, crap that comes in boxes, bags, and cans to make them cheaper for the consumer, whilst purposefully neglecting the prices of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats (making them more expensive). They tell us it's healthier to eat 3-4 meals a day (so they can make more $$$), when it's the opposite, 1-2. People who fast live longer, have less cancers, have less chronic diseases, less obesity, and so on. It has a little bit to do with caloric consumption, but a lot more to do with frequency and timing.

Now, we have "meat" created in laboratories, all based upon a "problem" that we have created, or at least contributed to ourselves in the form of toxic atmospheric emissions, pesticide exposure, and contaminated water and soil. They've literally and purposefully created a problem to be treated with the products they sell, noting how fat and unhealthy people are, and doctors who go through med school with grossly inadequate training in basic nutrition and lifestyle (on purpose), but rather the majority of it how to treat (not cure) with medications. "We've got a pill for that."

I've been in the medical field for nearly 40 years. I see what's going on here. It's a corporate, money-making machine, I dare say "criminal organization" at the very top, that happens to hire well-intentioned, caring, yet somehow ignorant individuals to manage people at the bottom of the organization. It's as beautiful as it is twisted. I've seen "The Matrix" that is "the system" we live in. Now, are you going to take the "green pill" and go on as if you never heard of any of this, or are you going to take the "red pill" and open your eyes to what is going on around you.

 

[AdamG]

I find myself repeatedly falling back on a few common wisdoms:
(1) All things in moderation
(2) It's not what you do, but rather how you do
(3) Perspective and context
(4) This too, shall pass

So, I have yet to find or hear of an exclusively vegetarian or carnivore that is "healthy". Those that call themselves that, and are healthy, when it comes down to it, are not exclusively one or the other, will take supplements, and will have other little "life hacks" that make it all possible. I am reminded of my own experience with fasting. If you read the scientific literature, many studies will say it doesn't work any better than calorie restriction, that is, until you get into the methods behind the studies and realize that the "fasting group" did not achieve a ketogenic state because the fasting group needed to fast, not 6-8 hours (as was done in the studies), but rather 12-18 hours, or more. "It's not what you do, but rather how you do." Some doctors will warn of electrolyte imbalances and say it can be dangerous, until you realize that most people who fast also take an electrolyte supplement. Furthermore, they seem to neglect all the many studies of Muslim folks who fast during Ramadan, and eat one meal a day and all the documented health benefits. They neglect the fact that up until some 150-200 years ago, the vast majority of the populous never ate any more than one meal a day. They also neglect the studies of nomadic African tribesmen who will walk, hike, and run for days without food before they kill an animal to eat. Talk about the potential for dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. Yet, humans have been doing this sort of thing since the dawn of man. Hmmm.

What we have is the food and pharmaceutical industries capitalizing upon the ignorance of people, their short historical memories, and the corporate marketing propaganda being bombarded upon people from the doctors in med schools, even making financial contributions to med schools, to the commercials on television, to well placed adds on all of our computer and phone screens. They subsidize all the nasty, artificial sweetened, hormone spiking, preservative-filled, crap that comes in boxes, bags, and cans to make them cheaper for the consumer, whilst purposefully neglecting the prices of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats (making them more expensive). Now, we have "meat" created in laboratories, all based upon a "problem" that we have contributed to ourselves in the form of methane emissions, pesticide exposure, and contaminated water. They've literally and purposefully created a problem to be treated with the products they sell, noting how fat and unhealthy people are, and doctors who go through med school with grossly inadequate training in basic nutrition and lifestyle (on purpose), but rather the majority of it how to treat (not cure) with medications. "We've got a pill for that."

I've been in the medical field for nearly 40 years. I see what's going on here. It's a corporate, money-making machine, I dare say "criminal organization" at the very top, that happens to hire well-intentioned, caring, individuals to manage people at the bottom of the organization. It's as beautiful as it is twisted. I've seen "The Matrix" that is "the system" we live in. Now, are you going to take the "green pill" and go on as if you never heard of any of this, or are you going to take the "red pill" and open your eyes to what is going on around you.

Yes, the big business of food production. It is very sad. And honestly, I believe big farming to be a higher cause of the ecological problems of this planet more so than any other industry.
.
My personal solution will be to source over 50% of my own food (which I cannot do until after moving). I don't know if I'll ever be able to get above that number, but the rest will be from as known a source as possible.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Yes, the big business of food production. It is very sad. And honestly, I believe big farming to be a higher cause of the ecological problems of this planet more so than any other industry.
.
My personal solution will be to source over 50% of my own food (which I cannot do until after moving). I don't know if I'll ever be able to get above that number, but the rest will be from as known a source as possible.

Relatively few people understand the role of the mycelial network that is in our soils. It not only is one of the main sources of "carbon capture", but it is the mechanism by which soil nutrients are broken down and fed to plant roots, as well as, the mechanism for water transport to roots that otherwise are out of reach of water sources. The mycelial network has many other vital functions. Yet, what do we do before planting? We till up the land, destroying it all, then we wonder why there is a massive release of CO2 in the air during each Spring planting season, not to mention the need for massive amounts of fertilizers and water usage, and furthermore, the food that is produced has fewer nutrients. The studies that have been done with NOT tilling fields, and simply planting seeds yielded significantly more food, higher nutritional content, less fertilizer, less soil erosion, and less water usage. Hmmm. Again, it's not what you do, but rather how you do it. If you can produce more food, with less water usage, less fertilizer, and almost no CO2 release, and for a lot less money, then why don't we do it? "I smell a rat in the kitchen."
https://eos.com/blog/no-till-farmin... of farming,passing the field after plowing).https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/underground-mycorrhizal-network#:~:text=Mycelium%20are%20incredibly%20tiny%20“threads,nitrogen%2C%20carbon%20and%20other%20minerals.

 

[AdamG]

Relatively few people understand the role of the mycelial network that is in our soils. It not only is one of the main sources of "carbon capture", but it is the mechanism by which soil nutrients are broken down and fed to plant roots, as well as, the mechanism for water transport to roots that otherwise are out of reach of water sources. The mycelial network has many other vital functions. Yet, what do we do before planting? We till up the land, destroying it all, then we wonder why there is a massive release of CO2 in the air during each Spring planting season, not to mention the need for massive amounts of fertilizers and water usage, and furthermore, the food that is produced has fewer nutrients. The studies that have been done with NOT tilling fields, and simply planting seeds yielded significantly more food, higher nutritional content, less fertilizer, less soil erosion, and less water usage. Hmmm. Again, it's not what you do, but rather how you do it. If you can produce more food, with less water usage, less fertilizer, and almost no CO2 release, and for a lot less money, then why don't we do it? "I smell a rat in the kitchen."
https://eos.com/blog/no-till-farmin... of farming,passing the field after plowing).https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/underground-mycorrhizal-network#:~:text=Mycelium%20are%20incredibly%20tiny%20“threads,nitrogen%2C%20carbon%20and%20other%20minerals.

Oh yes, I do my gardening no-till (a little bit of loosening/aeration down to 2-3 inches between plantings, but no mixing layers). And the mycelia certainly are a huge part of the soil.

 

[Mary Terry]

I've read that lab grown Frankenmeat is grown from cultured MEAT cells. I don't know why vegetarians or vegans would eat it.

 

[Magna]

Aren't the type of cells used in lab grown meat similar in some respect to tumor cells? Revolting thought, but with lab grown meat I have an image of eating a tumor.

I haven't purchased meat from a store in quite a few years. The only meat I've purchased has been directly from a local farmer who pasture raises her livestock and they're grass fed. Other than buying meat directly from the farmer, I've raised and processed my own poultry.

It will be funny to me if we get some brand new members that start expounding the merits of lab grown meat as their first posts...........

 

[oregano]

I also moved to a large plot of land to produce as much of my food as possible. But due to having to drive to Sacramento once a month if not more for my dental problems I missed the planting window, and I didn't have enough money to build a proper chicken run. So my proposed garden is a fenced in plot of star thistle and the chicken wire is in the same rolls that it came in when I bought it. I do hope to get lots of acorns this year though. I will simply put up ads offering free acorn removal. Strangely, most people around here have zero clue how to prep/cook acorns except for the local indigenous tribes, and nobody ever bothers to ask them.

The stuff we call "food" is basically just a stew of chemicals. The land is exhausted and the water mostly gone, so farmers have to use all sorts of bizarre chemicals to produce any crops. I won't even get into the big corporate meat farms because I know there are sensitive people here.

 

[Mary Terry]

Oh yes, I do my gardening no-till (a little bit of loosening/aeration down to 2-3 inches between plantings, but no mixing layers). And the mycelia certainly are a huge part of the soil.

We follow no-till farming practices, too. The easiest way we've found to do it is to put a large piece of plain brown cardboard on the ground where you want to grow a garden, cover it with 6-8 inches of mulch like bark, leaves and wood chips, and leave it alone for a year. The weeds underneath will die, the earthworms will prosper, and the soil will be enriched. Also, in spring we top-dress the garden with an inch or two of composted animal manure from our chickens, horses and donkeys, lightly mix the dry manure into the top couple of inches of the topsoil, and plant whatever we want.

On Saturday, we picked corn and purple hull peas from our garden. Blanched, put in ice water to stop cooking, packaged and froze in 2-cup containers. Ended up with 18 cups of organic corn (which we cut from the cobs) and 9 cups of peas. Yum for this winter.

 

[Princess Viola]

Y'know, not really a fan of how sensationalist this thread is by calling this stuff 'franken meat' and not the proper term of 'cultured meat' but I mean it's clear the OP started this thread with a negative view of the topic so *shrug*

I've read that lab grown Frankenmeat is grown from cultured MEAT cells. I don't know why vegetarians or vegans would eat it.

Obviously there is no singular answer to the question of 'will vegans or vegetarians eat this stuff' because it all depends on the individual.

Like technically speaking, cultured meat is not vegetarian (or vegan, by extension) but of course the reasons for not eating meat (and reasons for possibly eating cultured meat) can vary.

A vegetarian who avoids eating meat because they're opposed to the slaughter of other living creatures for the production of food for humans may very well choose to eat cultured meat because no animals were killed during its production. The cells needed to produced the meat is taken from a living animal, but no animal is slaughtered to get the cells.

But on the other hand, a vegetarian (or a vegan) who doesn't eat meat because they don't want to consume anything that originally came from an animal, regardless of if the animal was slaughtered or not, likely would not eat cultured meat because of the whole 'the cells used come from an animal'.

Personally, while I still buy normal meat at the store (I mean obviously, the only place in the world where cultured meat is currently sold is in Singapore and they've approved of one company [and its subsidiary] that makes chicken, this stuff obviously isn't anywhere near mass-production going to find it at your local supermarket levels yet), I'm actually all-in on various meat replacements from plant-based to cultured meat. Anything to weaken factory farms, reduce the environmental impact they have on Earth, and to lessen animal suffering.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Cultured meat: Which chemicals were used in its growth? What are HELA cells? Which role do they play? Why is it that it grows faster than natural cells? Which body cells have the ability to grow indefinitely? Are they healthy?

How much glucose is fed into the batch, to grow the meat? Without an endocrine system, how much glucose remains in the tissue? What about vitamin and mineral deficiencies?

 

[tree]

https://ftloscience.com/lab-grown-meat-safe-harmful-chemicals/
https://www.verywellhealth.com/fda-lab-grown-meat-6833515
https://www.health.com/lab-grown-meat-fda-6835173
Plant-Base Meat vs Lab-Grown Meat | UFS SG "Unlike plant-based meat that is made from soya or other non-meat ingredients, lab-grown meat contains the exact same nutrition and animal protein as conventionally produced beef, pork, or chicken."
https://www.freethink.com/energy/lab-grown-fat

 

[Tom]

This conversation brought this to mind.