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It puts technology at the tables of the restaurants artificial meat (part II)


Not all born equal artificial meat. There are two main methods for harvesting artificial proteins. Son cell production and agriculture based 'plant’.

The first requires taking a sample of muscle tissue stem cells the animal whose meat is to replicate. It then uses a biorreactor, a sealed chamber for careful control of the conditions under which the crop is. In this, the extracted cells begin to multiply by feeding a nutrient-rich serum.

The units concerned are the limiting factor. Bioreactor models more pointers have a capacity of 25.000 liters. As it will expand this, it will reduce the cost of crop production and meat, in consecuense, the artificial meat dishes reach consumers.

Production 'plant’ It refers to all those applications that are not derived from mitotic ability of animal cells. They have proliferated genetic modification techniques yeast (mushrooms) and bioengineering plants with a view to changing the taste and texture of fruit.

The imitation meat or vegetable meat does not fall within this food group bioengineered. A) Yes, tofu burgers, a mere substitute soy, They have nothing to do with the burger impossible (The Impossible Hamburguer) produced by Impossible Foods; who for simulate myoglobin and hemoglobin contained in beef, they used proteins of similar structure.

Myoglobin also appears in the soybean, while the blood protein substitute should be leghemoglobin. The problem is that it would take the equivalent of half football field planted soybeans for a measly steak. Does not that sound better call of a cepa Pichia pastoris with the genes responsible for synthesizing these amino acids? According to Pat Brown, CEO of the company, yes. And it is bent.

The Revolution alternative proteins will bring its consequences. Almost all positive. The reason why the sector has received funding descabalada is because the vision is advertised alone.

Some of the major impacts on the world would be:

  • Fight against antibiotic resistance. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns of the imminent risk that the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock farming has on our ability to treat diseases.
    Although meat laboratory does not completely ignore the use of antibiotics, the volume is inoculated irrisorio compared to conventional methods of obtaining meat products.
    A guideline, in the case of streptomycin the reduction is 98 O 99 percent.
  • Combating transmission of zoonotic diseases. Eliminate the massive congregations of animals hinders the emergence of epidemics hazardous to human health.
    Recall the measures implemented to widespread outbreaks of bird flu, bovine spongiform encephalopathy or trichinosis. We must not forget cross-contamination, or more secondary, suffering some products we consume.
    Although pasteurization protocols and other bactericides actions are ubiquitous in the food industry, microbiological colonization of milk, meat and egg products continues to take place.
  • Combating the use of hormones. Sex and growth hormones are the main cause of the hyperproductivity of farm animals. The high consumption of synthetic hormones has correlation with the occurrence of various cancers (prostate, colon, breast and pancreas), however the mechanism that interrelates these factors remains unexplained.
    In any case, It should be mentioned Hormones dispute vaccines or 'beef war', a dispute arising from the ban imposed by the EU dictates than beef hormone-treated US. It is not suitable for consumption in Europe.
    He EU precautionary principle on which is based the trade dispute has not yet fully clarified its intent, Some guess not relate purely on health.
  • Fight Hunger. The eradication of chronic hunger that plague certain regions of the planet is a pending issue that humanity has not been able to solve.
    For more tension, the world population continues to grow out of control. This growth and the inability to feed everyone is at odds with the conservation of natural resources of the planet.
    According to consumer needs increase, increasing pace of extensive soy farms in Brazil, palm on the islands of Melanesia, corn in the United States ...
  • unsustainable systems what, besides detrimental nature, dilate pressing problems such as global warming, soil contamination with fertilizers, or poisoning of the herbicide, insecticides and rodenticides.
    The use of bioreactors to generate artificial meat expels the inefficiencies of a system riddled livestock yield losses. Laboratory meat is imposed as alternative low consumption of raw materials, reduced space requirements (floor) and high productivity. Productivity enough to feed ten billion people, according to some forecasts, we will wander the planet 2050.
  • Ethics in Food. He homo sapiens It is an omnivorous species. Something we still have our canine teeth. We should not feel guilty when consuming meat.
    It is part of our DNA, one chiselled by millions of years copados with evolutionary processes that have made us what we are. Unfortunately, in terms gongorianos, Politeness does the dashing: if we ability to show empathy for living things around us to have viable substitutes for our food, why do not do it? This is the philosophy advocated vegetarianism, veganism and, in an even more extreme, by frugivorousness.
    This new ethic of food can be driven by the entry into the market for artificial meat. Those who do not wish to do without meat products can continue to eat your steak done medium, a braised sausage or meatballs to remove the hiccups without any animals have to die for it.
  • Reduction of the final price of the product. There are still many trump cards to play in the industry and this certainly full of surprises. From the initial cost, The price has been reduced 30.000 times in just five years. What is the achievable limit? Moment nobody knows, but the investment required per kilogram of meat produced artificial continues to decline even as these lines are written.
    The application of cell 3D printing, he screening mass of useful genes directed by artificial intelligence and robotics will take you even further. Of the three euros per kilo Butcher seems the approach of the new century. Of widespread consumption, prices could fall further.

The world is changing and with it the meat industry. It is a move that is taking place and the positive consequences clear to us, But what unexpected and potentially negative events will bring this new paradigm with it? We will have to see it…

Consumer interest and use of artificial meat in restoration

The bundles of bills passed from one hand to another in a single bet: what consumers will accept meat laboratory if there are differences with conventional.

To this end, huge consignments of R & D + I intended to spoil the organoleptic characteristics, sometimes they are using such exotic devices as a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer. A olorímetro we would say the least understood. Get something as banal as a scrambled egg settles with elasticity and expected speed, resulta todo un hito.

substantial efforts are devoted to tastings, as well. Early critics, those who tasted the burger Post, they found a little dry. Since then protein production goes hand in hand with growing lipocyte, because these add to the mixture juiciness. Now each company has its team of tasters, subject to strict confidentiality agreements.

Not everyone agrees, to make matters worse. Where you should find a tasty braised chicken taste some people find Doritos.

These shocking results have not desesperanzar the interested reader. In a recent article, Corby Kummer, food critic, shared his impressions of three of the products Beyond Meat. Chicken strips tasted at the offices of El Segundo, They were impressed. “They have strong similarities with the food that made my Hungarian grandmother on Saturday”, wrote.

further, the flavors do not have to be subject to expectations. Marie Gibbons, involved in growing meat and researcher at the State University of North Carolina, contemplates other possibilities.

“There is no doubt that we can manipulate [cultured meats]for good flavors; It's just a matter of how chemicals react with the taste buds”, Gibbons indicated. Does anyone fancy a ham-flavored smoked salmon?

But regardless of taste, smell and texture, Does this future product on the market? You really would consume people? There have been several published scientific studies addressing this concern just, and more will be needed for mixed results.

Through Amazon Mechanical Turk, the team of Matti Wilks and Clive F. C. Phillips reported to 673 respondents on meat in vitro, and then they cared about their willingness to try the product.

the research, conducted among US citizens, She showed an unusual interest. He 65% participants would dare to try the product. Segregating the result by genre, men were more interested. While the momentum waned to 31% when questioned if abandon conventional artificial meat.

further, research published in February last year PLOS One, one reconocidísima magazine and equipped open access peer review, He confirmed the suspicions of Silicon Valley. The decision is made with the mouth, not your heart. He 79% of respondents they subjugated their opinion papillary orders.

Other study looking purchase intent obtained very different results. Given three possibilities (beef burger, veggie burger and hamburger in vitro), only a 11% It would be encouraged to purchase artificial hamburger meat. The only option was to stay lower percentage hungry.

What about other important link in the chain: the restaurants? The company Beyond Meat already begun to pave the way. Instead of causing a frontal impact with a fully synthetic hamburger have started streamline its trade relations with the vegetarian version made with pea protein and beet juice. The agreement was sealed with the chain BurgerFi.

In New York, he restaurante Momofuku Nishi It has served since the mid 2016 Burger impossible, nearest cell proposals based on agriculture. This pioneering restaurant just opened the season on the false hamburger. Late 2017 and there were nine local who offered the Impossible Burger in California.

While growing popularity of it, increase followers and those who show fascination with the idea. vegans, Do they let being vegan?, and dare to try the delight laboratory. And expectantly to this panorama, restorers embark on a new adventure.

In an attempt to illustrate how they might be restaurants that were decided to sell based on laboratory meat dishes, Dutch artist and philosopher Koert Mensvoort has launched a virtual mock restaurant where a full menu of dishes presented conceptual. The Bistro in Vitro offers such unlikely products as pork garden, daditos celebrity or home grown meats.

It aims to create controversy, It is obvious. But since Products meat in vitro They may appear on a large scale in markets from 2020, It is the ideal time for restaurateurs wonder “Do I would use?”.

As discussed readers, the writer is quick to coin a term: postveganismo. Because the advent of synthetic meat involves the death of the same. Can we finally enjoy hangouts with friends without worrying about the famous evangelizer shift appears pelmazo? It seems, at least until the advent of celularismo, Of course.

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