Biotechnology Research: Meat Grown in Vats

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Several research groups are currently working to develop the technology to produce meat in vat culture. If they can do so commercially, their work may lead to important advances in meat production. Vat culture could provide more security against microbial contamination of the meat. Biotechnology might be applied to produce meat with specific nutrient advantages. Indeed, many people would prefer eating something that did not require slaughtering animals. Growing muscle cells (the main component of meat) in a nutrient broth is easy. The difficulty is persuading those cells to form something that sufficiently resembles the animal product to be acceptable as human food. The researchers are makeing advances in that direction.