As neat as many naive people will believe that technology to be, you can't get something for nothing, and every time you modify a process to gain something, you also lose something else (that you eventually regret losing). That process will have to utilize some type of feedstock, because it's impossible to create meat out of thin air. What will they use as feedstock? It will have to be something abundant and relatively inexpensive, if the product is going to be economically competitive, and a commercial success.
If the meat is to have any protein, then my guess is that they will use soy and corn for the feedstock, but I could be all wet. Making it "look, feel and hopefully taste like the real thing" [
sic] is just a matter of including the right dyes, emulsifiers, texturizers, etc., and other additives. Even though there will probably be an ingredient list as long as your arm, they may not be required to list it because similar to the feed that goes into a cow slaughtered for meat, the ingredients used during the "growing" process probably will not be required to be listed, especially since it will be such a "natural" product.
Yep, I'm sure that the government will be anxious to label the product as "natural", because it's so "green", doncha know, that they'll want to do everything they can to assure it's success. Needless to say, I won't be standing in line in anticipatory delight, anxiously waiting for the opportunity to sink my chompers into a nice juicy piece of who-knows-what.
Thanks for the heads up.
Tex
