Daisy Van Der Schaft on Petri-Dish Meat

2012, Science & Technology

Daisy Van Der Schaft aims to grow the burger of the future in a petri-dish rather than on a farm. Here, she details the quest for cultured laboratory-grown muscle tissue as meat for the table. She argues that serving it for dinner could greatly benefit society and the environment by improved animal welfare, prevention of animal-to-human diseases, conservation of land, water, energy, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Muscle tissue engineering can produce the new meat – will the consumer buy it?