Who will regulate Lab-grown Meat & Milk as they inch closer to the US market?
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/lab-grown-meat-inches-closer-us-market-industry-wonders-who-will-regulate
“So far, none of these synthetic foods has reached the marketplace. But a handful of startup companies in the United States and elsewhere are trying to scale up production" (Devitt, 2016).
In this article, Devitt discussed how lab-developed burgers are introduced to the market as well as how the US will regulate. Labs have been continually developing artificial products such as food flavoring, food coloring, and materials for better profit. Now, they have begun to merge meat and dairy products into their development. When researchers from Maastricht University in Netherland first produced a lab-made burger from cultured in 2013, it questioned how the US government would regulate this cellular agriculture, 'which uses biotechnology instead of animals to make products such as meat, milk, and egg whites' (Devitt, 2016). Regulators in the US, such as USDA (US Department of Agriculture) regulates meat, poultry, and eggs, and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) oversees the safety and security of food. But the biotechnology meats do not fit cleanly into any of those categories, which caused a big problem. Many entrepreneurs in the California area, such as Memphis Meats and Perfect Day, target to sell cultured meat products and sell cow-free dairy products in the upcoming years.
However, this might be something to cheer about for vegetarians. Since labs use biotechnology to make 'meat', then no animals are getting killed. But there is still one problem left, does the lab-grown burger taste the same as the real meat burger? Not quite. From this website: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/08/first-artificial-burger-gets-tepid-reviews-billionaire-financier-unmasked, the feedbacks weren't so great. Due to the lack of fat in the artificial burgers, it wasn't as juicy as the real burgers, and it just didn't taste right. Another problem was the color, 'because of a lack of myoglobin, which is an oxygen-binding protein in muscle bindings' (Kupferschmidt, 2016). This is a crucial problem that they are currently facing, but in the near future, it seems that the lab-grown burgers are not quite ready to take over the real meat burgers.
@NewsfromScience. "As Lab-grown Meat and Milk Inch Closer to U.S. Market, Industry Wonders Who Will Regulate?" Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 01 Sept. 2016.
@NewsfromScience. "First Artificial Burger Gets Tepid Reviews, Billionaire Financier Unmasked." Science. N.p., 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 02 Sept. 2016.
Telegraphtv. "How World's First Test-tube Burger Was Grown." YouTube. YouTube, 05 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 Sept. 2016.