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As that Wikipedia article mentions we would need a plant-based growth medium to get the meat to grow. Today they are using fetal bovine serum as a growth mediu
by kawsper 8y ago
As that Wikipedia article mentions we would need a plant-based growth medium to get the meat to grow.
Today they are using fetal bovine serum as a growth medium, which is both expensive and it is a by-product from the dairy industry.
When a cow coming for slaughter is identified to be pregnant, the cow is slaughtered and bled, and the fetus is removed from the mother and brought into a blood collection facility. The fetus, which is kept alive alive during the following process to ensure blood quality, has a needle inserted into its beating heart. The blood is then drained until the fetus dies. The whole process takes about 5 minutes. The blood is then refined and filtered, and the resulting extract is fetal bovine serum.
Until we no longer extract fetuses, I can't see many animal advocacy groups being that positive about it.
- KitDuncan 8y agoI am a vegan and I am aware of the use of fetal bovine serum and I am all for it. Still way better than slaughtering billions of animals every year. Until we have a plant-based growth medium I won't eat any fake meat myself though.
- schoen 8y agoI didn't know about this aspect; thanks for pointing it out. Do you know how plausible alternatives would be? I guess the chemistry of the serum is pretty specific and maybe challenging to replicate, as in human blood transfusions most blood products are taken from a human donor rather than synthesized.
- kawsper 8y agoI don't know, sorry. But I know it is an area that is currently receiving a lot of research because of how expensive the serum is.