Biting into a science experiment may not sound all that appetizing, but Hannah Gavin said she wouldn’t mind giving it a taste test.
Synthetic meat, also known as vitro meat or cultured meat, is a genetically engineered animal flesh product and is currently hot topic in the science world.
The twist: The meat has never been part of a living animal.
Although it isn’t currently in production, experts like Gabor Forgacs, a biological physicist and a professor at the University of Missouri, have successfully created synthetic meat.
During a 2011 TEDMED event, Forgacs discussed the benefits of synthetic meat and said it could help reduce food shortages and cut down on resources used to raise animals for meat. He also cooked and ate his own synthetic meat on stage.
Although food experts recognize the benefits of synthetic meat, they say the resources needed to commercially produce it are far from available.
Keith Schneider, a UF food science and human nutrition associate professor, said synthetic meat is more of a science experiment than a current production product.
“It’s more of a pie-in-the-sky type of thing, where just because they can do something doesn’t mean it will ever be done commercially,” he said. “It looks interesting, but it’s one of those things that doesn’t really mean it’s going to happen.”
While Gavin, a 21-year-old UF aerospace engineering junior, said synthetic meat sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie, she’d be up for trying it.
