Say Hello to Finger-Lickin Lab-Grown Chicken

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603862/say-hello-to-finger-lickin-lab-grown-chicken/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Say Hello to Finger-Lickin’ Lab-Grown Chicken[/font]

[font size=4]The first animal-free chicken strips are here—but they’ll cost you $9,000 per pound.[/font]

by Jamie Condliffe March 15, 2017

[font size=3]Fried chicken will never be guilt-free. But you may soon be able to remove at least part of the remorse the next time you chow down—because it might not have required a single bird to be harmed.

Memphis Meats is one of a cadre of startups racing to create meat that doesn’t involve killing any animals. The firm's approach to what it calls “clean meat” is to culture animal cells in the lab, feed them nutrients until they grow into pieces large enough to cook and eat. The company has already grown beef (as have others). Last year, it

" target="_blank">made a meatball.

Now, though, Memphis Meats has turned its attentions to poultry. The outfit has announced that it’s now made what it claims to be the first animal-free, lab-grown pieces of chicken and duck. The resulting chunks of alterna-flesh have so far been crafted into two dishes: a coated and fried chicken strip, and a plateful of duck à l’orange.

If companies like Memphis Meats can successfully grow their wares at scale, meat-eaters could satisfy their desire for animal-flavored proteins without the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with rearing animals for food. It would also neatly sidestep any issues of animal cruelty associated with our carnivorous lifestyles. Given the right conditions, a few cells could turn into billions of chicken strips.

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[dchill]

1. Interesting, in an abstract sense.