Growing pork without the pig

Dutch scientists are progressing in their efforts to grow meat in a petri dish, according to the Associated Press. The method puts stem cells from pig muscles in a nutrient medium so they can reproduce.
International scientists say that the Dutch team's research, which began in 2006, is the most advanced look into producing meat through alternative means. But it still has a distance to go. So far, the Dutch scientists have only been able to produce a piece of meat about half an inch long, and it has the texture of a scallop, due to higher water content than that found in farm-raised meat.
No one has yet tasted the lab-produced meat, but some scientists argue that it will be difficult to replicate the taste of traditionally grown meat. "What meat tastes like depends not just on the genetics, but what you feed the animals at particular times," biochemist Peter Ellis of King's College London told the Associated Press. "Part of our enjoyment of eating meat depends on the very complicated muscle and fat structure ... whether that can be replicated is still a question."
The Dutch researchers, who are part of the In Vitro Meat Consortium, said lab-produced meat would probably be used in processed products, like sausages, hamburgers and hot dogs. Mark Post, a biologist at Maastricht University and a member of the In Vitro Meat Consortium, said that the meat could probably be produced at the same or lower cost than farm-raised meat, once it was in industrial production.
Hanna Tuomisto, who studies the impact of agriculture on the environment at Oxford University, told the Associated Press that lab-produced meat has the potential to produce 95% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and use 95% less water and land than conventional meat.