this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
734 points (98.4% liked)
Futurology
3159 readers
2 users here now
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Sausage seems like the perfect entry point for this technology. People don't really care what goes in them as long as it tastes good. It's also a lot more forgiving from a texture perspective. It would even be feasible to expand to more exotic sausages like pheasant or alligator.
I know i'm in a significant minority, but I care a great deal what goes in processed pork products (or rather, my gut cares). I've yet to pin down which "preservative" commonly used in pork/pork-like products I'm allergic to, but I have a serious problem with even Kosher Hot dogs.
Basically, if its not fresh homemade bratwurst or sausage, I just can't eat it.
I'm sure that, if these methods continue to become more viable than their livestock counterparts, then the need to use at least some preservatives will decrease... hopefully.
One problem I've noticed with currently available meat alternatives is that they are even more processed than real meat.
Yes. I'm not sure how much of the non-meat chemicals are for the preservation / shelf life as opposed to the ones necessary to the creation(?) process.
I suspect that at first the meat will still require the more aggressive preservation methods because the distance in both time and geography from the lab will be similar to that of the slaughter locations.
But without needing to work around breeding seasons and just general herd growth variations throughout the year, the creation of the meat could be much closer to the demand. Storage costs for temperature sensitive products that are also time sensitive has got to be a huge industry cost, so there is more economic reasons than just "use less chemicals" for it to start to trend that way. (Also, I'm sure the chemicals used are absurdly cheap and hardly a factor)