HN Gopher Feed (2017-08-23) - page 1 of 10 ___________________________________________________________________
Billionaires and big ag are joining venture investors to fund lab-
grown meat
35 points by sethbannon
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/23/billionaires-and-big-ag-are-jo...___________________________________________________________________
grizzles - 13 minutes ago
Lab grown meat is the industry I'd pick if I had to pick where the
next rags to world's richest person will come from. Can it be
scaled & beat conventional slaughter economically? I'm betting that
it can. And it will disrupt a 100B+ annual industry.
adamnemecek - 5 minutes ago
I agree to some extent but selling physical products, let alone
perishable products is an insane endeavor.
issa - 4 minutes ago
I think this is great. The current way food is produced in America
(and other places) is not sustainable for either environmental or
moral reasons. Take your pick.
kjksf - 2 minutes ago
As a counter point, the CEO of Impossible Burgers thinks that meat
grown from cells is "stupidest idea ever" (http://www.news.com.au/t
echnology/innovation/inventions/arti...).And I kind of don't see
how Memphis Meat can possibly compete with Impossible Burger (or
other companies that can produce meat-like products from vegetables
+ industrial processing).Today Memphis Meat costs "several
thousand" per pound and generates literal pounds of meat. It's a
pre-alpha prototype.Impossible Burger's ground beef costs
"comparable to organic beef" and are scaling production to a
million pounds of meat per month. They've shipped and are
increasing velocity.
jseliger - 34 minutes ago
Beyond Meat gets name-checked in the article, but I want to
emphasize that their burgers are pretty good:
https://jakeseliger.com/2017/08/23/beyond-meat-burgers-are-p... and
in my view underappreciated right now. If you've not tried them
yet, you ought to.
leovander - 15 minutes ago
How do you compare it against the Impossible Burger? I had a
Beyond Burger at Veggie Grill and it didn't seem to be on part
with the Impossible Burger.
Danihan - 26 minutes ago
I love how highly, highly processed foods are suddenly A-OK to
many people here once it's a fake meat product. Whatever
happened to the concept of, "Eat real food?"Full Ingredient
List:>Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein,
Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (soy), Yeast
Extract, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum,
Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin
(Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.I shouldn't even have to post about
"Textured Wheat Protein" but it's essentially another denatured
protein, one that is completely doused in glyphosate right before
harvest. That's the main ingredient of these "burgers."Check out
the chart on page two...http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/ITX_20
13_06_04_Seneff.pdfThese "vegan" foods are nowhere near
healthy.Then there's Soy Protein Isolate:>But high-temperature
processing has the unfortunate side effect of so denaturing the
other proteins in soy that they are rendered largely
ineffective.23 That's why animals on soy feed need lysine
supplements for normal growth.>Nitrites, which are potent
carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called
lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline processing.24 Numerous
artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to soy protein
isolate and textured vegetable protein products to mask their
strong "beany" taste and to impart the flavor of meat.25>In
feeding experiments, the use of SPI increased requirements for
vitamins E, K, D, and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of
calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron, and
zinc.26 Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly
inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop
enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and
increased deposition of fatty acids in the
liver.27http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/avoid_soy.htm
gwern - 12 minutes ago
> I love how highly, highly processed foods are suddenly A-OK
to many people here once it's a fake meat product. Whatever
happened to the concept of, "Eat real food?"People do usually
eat 'real food' when they eat meat products. That's the
problem.
ethnic_throw - 6 minutes ago
That's an ethical problem, which is orthogonal to the fact
that this fake meat is basically a soy hot dog in terms of
nutrition.
ethnic_throw - 9 minutes ago
Is MSG considered an artificial flavoring? I was under the
impression that it is both naturally occurring in biology and
that its health problems are greatly over-
exaggerated.Nonetheless, point taken.
nightski - 25 minutes ago
I'm sure it tastes just fine, but at something like $16/lb for a
hamburger substitute that puts it on the same price level as
prime grade ribeye or tenderloin.It's really unfortunate all the
meat "alternatives" take the organic/healthy but huge premium
approach as this makes it very inaccessible to your standard
consumer. Maybe for 6+ figure earning HNers it's not an issue
but for the majority of the country it is.
deegles - 22 minutes ago
Prime grade meat will stay that price or higher forever...
manufactured protein will go down in price over time.
sethbannon - 25 minutes ago
For those that are curious, as an early investor and advocate for
clean meat, I wrote about my experience eating Memphis Meats'
products and why their solution is so much better than convention
meat production: https://medium.com/@sethbannon/i-just-ate-meat-
for-the-first...
josephmerz - 1 hours ago
About bloody time. Excuse the pun
mmisu - 19 minutes ago
Highly processed food made in a lab has a big change to have hidden
side effects. I would not eat this until it is tested in the wild
for a few years.