> CO2, food safety

I'm not 100% sure either of those has been proven out.

I could see CO2, but it sort of depends on how much power the bioreactor and sterilization consumes and how much methane is release. Granted, it'd be easier to capture those and easier to place these reactors in or near a grocery store, for example, for immediate delivery.

Food safety is almost certainly going to be a bigger problem. The big problem with bioreactors is they are cultivating the ideal substance for very nasty bacteria/fungus/etc to flourish in. Bioreactors do not have immune systems. That means keeping things absolutely sterile is of the utmost importance. I'm sure when the initial products are produced safety will be pristine. However, what happens when the CEOs of these companies decide to cut back? Heck, what happens when the new guy forgets to do a sterilization cycle or runs it short?

A major issue is these will be regulated by the FDA which has a history of doing a poor job of keeping food safe. I'd feel better if it were under the jurisdiction of the USDA.

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unsnap_biceps 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Looking beyond just eating the output, encouraging research into bioreactors and effective sterilization is a great path towards lab grown organs for humans. Imagine a world where getting a heart transplant isn't a lottery anymore. This is a worthy path for research imho.

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mapt 3 days ago | parent [-]

Imagine a world where you have to take whatever "heart" a pioneering lab can produce for under $100. Are you gonna be in the first group of recipients to risk it, knowing that these labs are largely unregulated startups?

I can cherish the research path and value the intended endpoint, but knowing what I know of agribusiness, early approval to market seems a mite reckless. Particularly in 2025. Particularly with "sushi-grade fish".

We produce millions of tons of affordable meat from industrial production of animals THAT HAVE immune systems, swimming in antibiotics, that the FDA tells you to cook thoroughly because it's definitely full of salmonella. We chop it up using child labor on production lines that would make you a vegetarian if you saw them.

	▲	janalsncm 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Unfortunately the alternative for not using a lab grown heart in that scenario would be death, not a human heart. So I’m guessing many people will take it.
	▲	3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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janalsncm 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You bring up a good point, a future steak factory will be a lot more centralized than the distributed system of farms we have today. So an outbreak in one would significantly disrupt the market, at a minimum, and in the worst case cause a mass outbreak. The flip side is that a factory has a higher ceiling for cleanliness and disease surveillance. I would be wary of foreign lab grown meat for this reason.