Scientists Create Meat in Lab

Scientists in the Netherlands have created a world first in the lab -- meat.

According to the Times of London , researchers describe the meat as soggy pork and are hoping to refine the quality so that it will be appetizing to people in the future.

"What we have at the moment is rather like wasted muscle tissue," Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University, told the Sunday Times. "We need to find ways of improving it by training it and stretching it, but we will get there."

The scientists took cells from the muscle of a live pig and then incubated to encourage them to multiply. The result is a sticky muscle that needs "exercise," like a human does, in order to get it to a firmer consistency.

The scientists haven't yet tasted it, but hope to get it to the consumer market in five years. The manmade meat could mean that the billions of tons of carbon emissions from farm animals could be reduced.

PETA said that it has nothing to say in protest of the scientists' work. "As far as we’re concerned, if meat is no longer a piece of a dead animal, there's no ethical objection," the group said.

Foods have been created and modified in the lab for years . For instance if you don't consume organic produce, you are eating fruits and vegetables that have most likely been genetically modified to make them bigger, better and more pesticide-resistant. The sweetener high-fructose corn syrup, used in many soft drinks, and the trans-fat known as partially hydrogenated oil, used in many foods to extend shelf life, were also both created in the lab.