💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 3153.gmi captured on 2022-06-04 at 01:44:42. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Japan scientist synthesizes meat from human feces

Somehow this feels like a Vonnegut plotline: population boom equals food

shortage. Solution? Synthesize food from human waste matter. Absurd yes, but

Japanese scientists have actually discovered a way to create edible steaks from

human feces.

Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a researcher from the Okayama Laboratory, has developed steaks

based on proteins from human excrement. Tokyo Sewage approached the scientist

because of an overabundance of sewage mud. They asked him to explore the

possible uses of the sewage and Ikeda found that the mud contained a great deal

of protein because of all the bacteria.

The researchers then extracted those proteins, combined them with a reaction

enhancer and put it in an exploder which created the artificial steak. The

meat is 63% proteins, 25% carbohydrates, 3% lipids and 9% minerals. The

researchers color the poop meat red with food coloring and enhance the flavor

with soy protein. Initial tests have people saying it even tastes like beef.

Inhabitat notes that the meatpacking industry causes 18 percent of our

greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to the release of methane from animals.

Livestock also consume huge amounts of resources and space in efforts to feed

ourselves as well as the controversy over cruelty to animals. Ikeda s recycled

poop burger would reduce waste and emissions, not to mention obliterating Dante

s circle for gluttons.

The scientists hope to price it the same as actual meat, but at the moment the

excrement steaks are ten to twenty times the price they should be thanks to the

cost of research. Professor Ikeda understands the psychological barriers that

need to be surmounted knowing that your food is made from human feces. They

hope that once the research is complete, people will be able to overlook that

ugly detail in favor of perks like environmental responsibility, cost and the

fact that the meat will have fewer calories.

Waste not; want not.