Article

2019-07-14 Science & Technology

Fresh from the lab: Startups make meat that avoids slaughter

EMERYVILLE, Calif. (AP) ‐ Uma Valeti slices into a pan-fried chicken cutlet in the kitchen of his startup, Memphis Meats. He sniffs the tender morsel on his fork before taking a bite. He chews slowly, absorbing the taste.

"Our chicken is chicken ... you’ve got to taste it to believe it," Valeti says.

This is no ordinary piece of poultry. No chicken was raised or slaughtered to harvest the meat. It was produced in a laboratory by extracting cells from a chicken and feeding them in a nutrient broth until the cell culture grew into raw meat.

Memphis Meats, based in Emeryville, California, is one of a growing number of startups worldwide that are making cell-based or cultured meat. They want to offer an alternative to traditional meat production that they say is damaging the environment and causing unnecessary harm to animals, but they are far from becoming mainstream and face pushback from livestock producers.

"You are ultimately going to continue the choice of eating meat for many generations to come without putting undue stress on the planet," said Valeti, a former cardiologist who co-founded Memphis Meats in 2015 after seeing the power of stem cells to treat disease.

The company, which also has produced cell-grown beef and duck, has attracted investments from food giants Cargill and Tyson Foods as well as billionaires Richard Branson and Bill Gates.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-07-14 07:22|| || Front Page|| [9 views ] Top

#1 next - Roadkill Ratatouille and critters that died of old age.

Posted by Betty Chaviper4901 2019-07-14 09:53|| 2019-07-14 09:53|| Front Page Top

#2 Mmm mmm, Memphis Meats chicken! It's better than your mummy's! More than just a bird, ya heard? Cloned, not boned, and fried before it died! Your kids is gonna kiss you when you serves this lump of tissue! Fit for a Pharaoh from Cairo!

Posted by Shirong Throlurt4878 2019-07-14 10:32|| 2019-07-14 10:32|| Front Page Top

#3 "More chicken than chicken"
-- Tyrell Corporation marketing slogan, 2022

Posted by SteveS 2019-07-14 10:39|| 2019-07-14 10:39|| Front Page Top

#4 "Nick "Big Chick" Stavinoha of the Redbirds sez, 'There's no fowl balls with Memphis Meats!'" Untouched by a cloaca! Honey, would we snake ya? Uma Valeti: Try it with spaghetti!

Posted by Shirong Throlurt4878 2019-07-14 10:43|| 2019-07-14 10:43|| Front Page Top

#5 Hyperprocessed "food," grown in a lab. What could go wrong?
Care to check back in 30 years?

Posted by Lex 2019-07-14 11:12|| 2019-07-14 11:12|| Front Page Top

#6 Only costs 10 times what real chicken does and tastes like snot.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2019-07-14 11:50|| 2019-07-14 11:50|| Front Page Top

#7 From his boat house on Lake Jodeco, Dan Cathy laughs, shakes his head, and sips sweet tea with brother "Bubba."

Posted by Besoeker 2019-07-14 11:58|| 2019-07-14 11:58|| Front Page Top

#8 #6 Only costs 10 times what real chicken does and tastes like snot.

He sniffs the tender morsel on his fork before taking a bite. He chews slowly, absorbing the taste. "Pfeeww !" He spews it out just after the camera cut.

Posted by Dron66046 2019-07-14 12:44|| 2019-07-14 12:44|| Front Page Top

#9 next - Roadkill Ratatouille and critters that died of old age.

Sounds like North Korea.

Posted by gorb 2019-07-14 13:02|| 2019-07-14 13:02|| Front Page Top

#10 If I were the city of Memphis, the state of Tennessee, and any proprietor of Memphis style BBQ, I'd sue their cock off.

Posted by swksvolFF 2019-07-14 14:32|| 2019-07-14 14:32|| Front Page Top

#11 'cept the NorKs don't have a choice.....

Posted by Spunter Glimble8430 2019-07-14 14:36|| 2019-07-14 14:36|| Front Page Top

#12 "Meatismurder," wherever he is would've liked this.

Posted by The peanut gallery 2019-07-14 18:31|| 2019-07-14 18:31|| Front Page Top

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