<
https://singularityhub.com/2022/07/29/no-pigs-were-harmed-for-these-pork-sausages-but-theyre-real-cultured-meat/>
"For a technology that was largely unheard of a decade ago, cultured meat has
taken off quickly in recent years. Not only are there many different types of
meat being grown from animal cells (like ground beef, chicken, salmon, and
bacon, to name a few), but facilities to manufacture the products at scale have
opened or are under construction in Israel, the US, and Singapore. Now another
real-meat product that’s made without harming animals will soon be available to
carnivores: cultured pork sausages.
Meatable unveiled the sausages last week, and they’re the Dutch company’s very
first product. They’re made using what Meatable calls ‘opti-ox™ technology’;
though the company’s press release is light on details of how it works, they
mention there’s no fetal bovine serum involved.
It’s likely their proprietary method mirrors the typical way cultured meat is
produced: the process starts with harvesting muscle cells from an animal, then
feeding those cells a mixture of nutrients and naturally-occurring growth
factors so that they multiply, differentiate, then grow to form muscle tissue
in much the same way muscle grows in animals’ bodies.
The bioreactors this process takes place in don’t pop out ready-to-eat pork
sausages, though—growing the meat cells is only half the work. The harvested
cells need to be refined and shaped into a final product, which could involve
extrusion cooking, molding, and even 3D printing. This may sound dubious to
some consumers, but for what it’s worth, most cultured meat products have
nutritional profiles identical to those of their conventionally-raised
counterparts.
Perhaps most significantly, Meatable says it only takes a few weeks to take its
product from cell growth initiation to ready-to-eat sausages. That’s a far cry
from raising a live pig.
Also, here’s a fun fact—according to Meatable’s press release, Germany alone
consumers 27 percent of the world’s total volume of sausages. We knew they
liked their bratwurst, but wow. It’s a good thing the Netherlands and Germany
share a border so that logistics will be easy with Meatable’s biggest potential
customers."
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
