[exDemMom]

Post has said that he and his team are currently working on replacing the serum with something that would not rely on animal products.

There are many companies that have tried to develop alternatives to fetal calf serum. I've never come across a substitute that works.

Fetal calf serum is obtained when a pregnant cow is slaughtered. A single fetal calf might yield a liter of serum. That may cost several hundred dollars, depending on the supply of beef. Because growing cells in quantities sufficient to become a food supply requires a LOT more serum than I ever needed for growing cells for experiments in the lab, I'm not even going to begin to try to calculate how much it would cost to grow a pound of cells in a lab.

The bottom line is that this is unlikely to become less costly than natural meat, and will end up killing just as many, if not more, cows than needed just for meat. Because, to get all that serum, the cows have to be slaughtered while pregnant--which means two cows die, not just one. And more than one fetus will probably be needed to produce just a pound of lab meat. Researchers will still need the serum for experiments, which are (IMHO) more important than trying to shield people from the fact that animals are slaughtered for food.

One other complication is that researchers grow cells in plastic flasks or Petri dishes. The plasticizers leech quite readily into the culture medium used to grow the cells. While that isn't much of a concern when growing cells for experiments, I'm not certain that those plasticizers are a safe additive for food.

People just need to accept the fact that we are omnivores, and that means we do need to consume other animals in order to live. This is actually true of most animals; even some we consider herbivores do eat animal products on occasion. I caught my bunny at the cat food dish once...

[Sgt_Schultze]

...which means two cows die, not just one.

So you've described that an abortion will accompany a cow slaughter. That's a lefty sacrament so it makes the killing thing more palatable.

[2ndDivisionVet]

They’ll probably fall back on us peasants eating insects, rodents, lower order sea creatures and the like while the elites will still get beef, pork, lamb, shellfish, chicken and good fish.

[jjsheridan5]

This is actually true of most animals; even some we consider herbivores do eat animal products on occasion.

I know that squirrels will occasionally catch and kill prey. For some reason, I can't help but think that worse than the pain of being eaten alive would be the embarrassment of doing so at the hands of a squirrel.

As far as the beef goes, I hold out the hope that eventually they will get the process right, and every cut will be perfectly marbled, and even better than the real thing. In a few dozen years, it might be possible to have a cut of meat superior to a perfect prime rib, for all three meals (although, in that case, I think I would eat more than three meals a day).

[antidisestablishment]

Well, I am not going to comment on the market value, or the ethics, but could this eventually offer a way to produce meat for long-term space exploration? It would make sense in that environment.

Many of the people commenting have obviously not been around commercial meat processing. While many cultures speak of using every part of the pig but the squeal, they have nothing on modern meat companies . Sausage-making has never been pretty, but chicken nuggets puts them all to shame. LOL