this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Islamic scholars consulted by a leading producer of cultivated meat say that the newfangled protein — which is grown from animal cells and doesn't require animals to be slaughtered — can be halal, or permissible under Muslim law.

And the Jewish Orthodox Union this month certified a strain of lab-grown chicken as kosher for the first time, "marking a significant step forward for the food technology's acceptance under Jewish dietary law," as the Times of Israel put it.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Arguably. I think a lot of lab meat currently uses massive amounts of FBS instead of alternatives. Though I guess many vegetarians don't have a problem with renet.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What do these three glyphs signify in this particular sequence

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Fetal bovine serum. It's used as a supplement for for cell cultures.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Some of the cows slaughtered for meat are pregnant. Fetal bovine serum comes from the blood extracted from these cow fetuses.

Since it is used to produce lab grown meat, it is not vegetarian

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@agoseris @fred you’d think since it’s meat it’s not vegetarian.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pretty sure it'd still be vegetarian, just not Vegan then right? At least how I generally have heard it defined, vegetarians are OK with eating food made from animal byproducts (though it's preferable to avoid) and only vegans refuse to consume anything with any animal byproducts

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For some vegetarians, it makes a difference wether an animal had to die in the process. It's one thing to continously harvest milk or eggs from an animal which otherwise lives on ~~happily~~. It's another thing to eat something which could only be obtained by slaughtering an animal.

In the same sense, many hard cheeses like Parmesan or Gran Padano aren't vegetarian either, because they use rennet.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn’t the vast majority of cheese now made with bacterial rennet instead of calf rennet? I remember reading that something like 95% of cheese now was made with that instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Would be nice to know, I'd like to read a source. On wiki, I got the impression the driving incentive is not to kill less calfs, but to produce more rennet, to ultimately produce more cheese. The German wiki quotes "Nur ca. 35 % der weltweiten Käseproduktion können mit Naturlab produziert werden.", roughly "Only about 35% of worldwide cheese production can be produced with rennet from animals". Technically still a vast majority.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It was from Wikipedia, and I was misremembering slightly - not 95% of all cheese, but of cheese made in the US. Which could be saying a lot about cheese in the US.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

There isn't really a central authority for deciding if it's vegetarian or not though.

Technically is not an animal product so I guess it is vegetarian but also at the same time it's still meat so it isn't.

I guess it depends on what your objection to meat is. If your objection is based on animal cruelty then I guess it's probably vegetarian but if your objection is based on dietary restrictions (religious or otherwise) then obviously it's not.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hello, it is I the pope of vegetables. On behalf of the interests of all plants I do ordain this diet

[–] OrteilGenou 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Follow up question, my bush is burning, what can I do about that?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ask your gynecologist. For now, here's some Aloe Vera to keep you company.

[–] AngryCommieKender 2 points 1 year ago

The vegans I know seem to be split on the issue. Most of them agree that it's technically vegan, but about half of them worry that they have been plant based so long that it still might wreck their digestive systems.

[–] OrteilGenou -1 points 1 year ago

I think as long as the meat was slaughtered by a combine vegetarians can eat it

[–] VonCesaw 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ethically it's dubiously vegetarian, culinarily it's meat. Mostly depends on how they harvested the cells tbh.

[–] AngryCommieKender 1 points 1 year ago

From what I have read it seems that these cultures are started with a small biopsy. Probably nothing worse than what we do at the doctor or the veterinarian. Lemmy knows I've had to have a ton of lumps on dogs checked out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why dubiously? Not all recipes use the calf serum anymore.

[–] VonCesaw 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some vegetarians do not like the idea of eating animal AT ALL, even if its ethically sourced and lab grown

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I guess that makes sense if you're in it for perceived health benefits. I think most vegetarians are ethically motivated, but I could be wrong.

[–] OscarRobin 1 points 1 year ago

I would argue given it is still animal tissue - not cellulose etc - it remains not vegetarian because it is not in any way made of plants. It is, however, not made via animals in any way and thus most people who currently consider themselves vegetarians would probably eat it as most vegetarians are so on moral grounds.