Scientists in the Netherlands may have discovered one way to have their bacon and eat it too - without killing or even harming any pigs. For the last four years, a Dutch group of researchers have been growing pork in a laboratory using stem cells from a pig.

The texture is still not quite right and they haven't even tried to taste it yet, but if they are able to manufacture meat using nothing more than a stem cell, this could have tremendous impact on world hunger and offer a much more eco-friendly and humane alternative to raising livestock.

"If we took the stem cells from one pig and multiplied it by a factor of a million, we would need one million fewer pigs to get the same amount of meat," said Mark Post, a biologist at Maastricht University involved in the In-vitro Meat Consortium, a network of publicly funded Dutch research institutions that is carrying out the experiments.

By isolating stem cells from pigs' muscle cells, Post and his colleagues were able to make pork by putting them in a nutrient-based soup that lets the cells replicate to the desired number.

Similar research was funded in the U.S. by NASA, who hoped the technology would provide astronauts the ability to grow their own meat in space. The U.S. scientists did not have immediate success, however, and were only able to grow thin sheets of tissue. This caused NASA to give up and declare their astronauts would just eat vegetarian.

There are also several possibilities for lab-grown meat to provide health benefits. For example, fish stem cells could be used to produce omega 3 fatty acids, which could be added to the lab-produced pork instead of the natural fats found in pig meat.

"You could possibly design a hamburger that prevents heart attacks instead of causing them," Matheny said.

One downside, however, is the protein count. For some reason, the protein content in lab meat is only about 80%, versus 99% of livestock meat. The rest of the meat is mostly water and nucleic acids. Tasty.

But does it TASTE like chicken pork?

"What meat tastes like depends not just on the genetics, but what you feed the animals at particular times," said Peter Ellis, a biochemistry expert at King's College London. "Part of our enjoyment of eating meat depends on the very complicated muscle and fat structure...whether that can be replicated is still a question."

As with all genetically modified foods, it will take a lot of time and testing to ensure this manufactured meat is safe for human consumption.

What do you think? Would you eat lab-grown meat? Do you think this is a reasonable solution for feeding the hungry and reducing the destruction of our land due to livestock?

via AP