<story><title>No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/02/no-kill-lab-grown-meat-to-go-on-sale-for-first-time</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>omginternets</author><text>I sometimes get called a luddite, but I am honestly quite pessimistic about lab-grown meat.  It seems like not that long ago we thought to &amp;quot;hack&amp;quot; unsaturated fats in order to give them a buttery texture.  Fast-forward 20 years and it turns out biological systems are unimaginably complex, and trans-fats are quite probably inflammatory agents and carcinogens.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s always some risk in innovation, but it seems like synthetic nutrition is an absolute minefield.  It&amp;#x27;s not just the raw complexity of the field, either.  It&amp;#x27;s also that much of nutrition is junk science, even in the peer-reviewed literature.&lt;p&gt;On a more conspirational note, I also can&amp;#x27;t help but to notice that the agro-dietary industry is a pretty low-margin business.  It seems like driving up profit margins requires convincing people that existing foods are somehow unsuitable, and that &amp;quot;innovative&amp;quot; products are therefore needed.  I think vegan and ecological sensibilities are being instrumentalized to this end.&lt;p&gt;In any case:  this anonymous internet stranger plans on skipping the lab-meat fad.</text></comment>
<story><title>No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/02/no-kill-lab-grown-meat-to-go-on-sale-for-first-time</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>parsimo2010</author><text>I will be interested to see how this scales over time.  Most of the world doesn&amp;#x27;t really care if their meat is cruelty-free (not enough to pay extra for it), but I think they&amp;#x27;ll move to lab grown meat if it has other benefits.  Conventional livestock farming takes a lot of work to ensure that the food supply is safe (sanitation and testing), and I assume that lab grown meat has a natural advantage in this area.  I would love if lab grown meat had a guarantee of less bacteria so I could cook my meat less.  I would also love it if lab grown meat had customizable texture and fat content.  That&amp;#x27;s stuff I&amp;#x27;d pay extra money to have.  Once the premium products see wide distribution I assume that a cheaper grade will become available.</text></comment>