We humans consume a lot of meat. So much so that global meat consumption is projected to increase by more than 70 percent by the year 2050. But that poses a huge problem for the meat industry as a whole: How do we keep up with rising demand while minimizing the environmental impact of it all?
Scientists are looking at cultured meat, aka meat grown in laboratories instead of mass-scale farms.
Various food technology companies are already making huge strides in this pursuit of sustainability – like Australian cultured meat company Vow, who recently unveiled a gigantic meatball made of a combination of sheep cells, African elephant DNA, and...
IMAGE: Naoki Suzuki / Associated Press (via NBC News)
Extinct woolly mammoth DNA.
Thank you?
Unveiled at the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the mammoth meatball was made to stir public discussion about the viability of cultured meat as a sustainable alternative.
Speaking to Reuters, Vow co-founder Tim Noakesmith said the company wanted to create something that was "totally different from anything you can get now". Well, they definitely achieved that. But one question still remains: Why a mammoth meatball of all things?
IMAGE: Piroschka van de Wouw / Reuters
According to Noakesmith, it's more of a symbolic message, owing to the woolly mammoth's demise (complete extinction) brought on by global warming and climate change.
“We face a similar fate if we don’t do things differently," he added.
In terms of how the meatball was concocted in the first place, the wizards at Vow inserted a singular mammoth gene called myoglobin into some sheep cells. This still left some gaps in the mammoth DNA sequence, so they filled those in with African elephant DNA, à la Jurassic Park.
IMAGE: Vow / CNN
IMAGE: Vow / CNN
The myoglobin itself is what gives the meatball its aroma, color, and taste. Apparently, it smells like crocodile meat. Fortunately, (or unfortunately???) it's not for consumption... yet.
“Its protein is literally 4,000 years old. We haven’t seen it in a very long time. That means we want to put it through rigorous tests, something that we would do with any product we bring to the market,” said Noakesmith.
Would you give woolly mammoth meat a go?
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