Synthetic meat soon on sale in the USA, Italians remain in favor of steak

In supermarkets and grocery stores in the United States, consumers will soon be able to buy synthetic meat obtained from cell cultures. The US Department of Agriculture (usda) and the Food and Drug Administration , the US government body that deals with the regulation of food and pharmaceutical products have given the green light to the trade of synthetic meat throughout the American territory.

We concluded that both agencies should oversee production, with the FDA handling cell collection and storage, growth and differentiation. A transition from FDA to USDA will occur during the cell harvest phase. The USDA will then take care of the production and labeling of the products. Because agencies have the statutory authority to appropriately regulate the production of animal-derived cell culture foods, the Administration does not believe that additional legislation is needed. Some of the most important US and foreign companies have been moving towards the new commerce for some time, including Memphis Meat and Finless Food at the Israeli Aleph farm at the Dutch Mosa Meat.

Cultured meat or clean meat (or even synthetic, artificial or in vitro meat) is an animal meat product that has never been part of a live animal.

On August 5, 2013, the world's first lab-grown hamburger was cooked and eaten at a press conference in London. Scientists from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, led by Prof. Mark Post, they took stem cells from a cow and grew them into strips of muscle that they combined to produce a hamburger. The meat was cooked by chef Richard McGeown of Couch's Great House Restaurant in Polperro, Cornwall, and tasted by food critic Hanni Ruetzler, a nutrition scholar from Future Food Studio, and Josh Schonwald. Ruetzler has found that since there is no fat it is not juicy, and therefore the taste is not the best possible, however he feels an intense flavour. For Ruetzler the taste is similar to that of meat, even if less tasty, and the consistency, according to him, is perfect: "For me it's meat, it's something I can chew and I think it looks very similar". And he added that in an eye-closed test he would have taken the product for meat rather than a soy derivative.

The tissue for the London demonstration was grown in May 2013, using at least 20000 thin strips of lab-grown muscle tissue. Donations of around €250.000 came from an anonymous donor, later revealed to be Sergey Brin.

Mark Post for his part stated that there is no reason why it could not be cheaper than animal meat and in any case that it would be very pleased to save the lives of millions of livestock around the world.

While the doors of shops in America will soon open to this new product, the Italians instead seem to be very hesitant and not very enthusiastic about the idea of ​​replacing a T-bone steak or a nice scottona steak with a meat made in the laboratory.

Coldiretti immediately investigated the opinion of our compatriots and it emerged that three out of four Italians (75%) do not at all like the arrival of meat obtained in the laboratory on the market. The Italians - underlines Coldiretti - are worried about the repercussions of the application of these new technologies to food products for which the strong perplexities of a health nature are added to those of an ethical nature. "The announcement is the demonstration that behind the repeated and unfounded alarmism about red meat there is a precise strategy of the multinationals", said the president Ettore Prandini in emphasizing that “it is about a clever marketing operation which aims to change natural food styles based on quality and tradition". Among other things, Italy has recently recorded a historic trend reversal with an increase of more than 3% in household spending on meat, the highest value in the last six years characterized by a sharp drop in consumption.

Breeding has a fundamental role in preserving landscapes, territories, traditions and cultures because - concludes Coldiretti - when a stable closes, an entire system made up of animals, forage meadows, typical cheeses and above all people is lost. committed to fighting depopulation and degradation often for entire generations.