A mammoth meatball hints at a future of exotic lab-grown meats, but the reality will be far more boring, and rife with problems

Journal Contribution ResearchOnline@JCU
Stevens, Hallam
Abstract

[Extract] Last week, an Australian “cultured meat” company called Vow made headlines with a meatball made from the flesh of a woolly mammoth – or something very much like it. Combining the technologies of lab-based cell culture and “de-extinction,” Vow scientists grew muscle proteins based on DNA sequences from the long-dead proboscideans. The meatball was not intended for human consumption, but Vow hoped the gimmick would highlight the lighter environmental footprint of lab-grown meats, using the mammoth as a “a symbol of diversity loss and a symbol of climate change”. The meatball also hinted at a possible new variety and playfulness in meat consumption.

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The Conversation

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6 April 2023

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2201-5639

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3

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Conversation Media Group

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