• iridaniotter [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    They can't reproduce fetal bovine serum. It's a byproduct of the cow killing industry, so every lab-grown meat product uses the processed blood of a real cow.

    • penitentkulak [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Not yet, but there's a few alternatives in the R&D pipeline. I'd think the economics of lab grown meat probably don't make sense until a decent substitute is found, because it's so expensive. A small bottle was like $500 when I was doing lab work.

      • iridaniotter [she/her]
        ·
        7 months ago

        FBS is the growing medium. The cell lines (the stuff that becomes meat) is reproduced, so very few cells need to be taken from animals. For growing chicken meat for example, the cells can be taken from their eggs, a live donor (well, chickens can't consent so I guess not a donor), or a corpse. Also, it turns out there are techniques that use alternative media, so idk give it a decade.