The US Department of Agriculture told US farmers to keep their cloned animals off the market at the same time that the Food and Drug Administration officials announced that food from cloned livestock is safe to eat. And huge amounts of beef have been recalled in California. What’s going on?
read more
A molecule that makes the immune system think our body has been invaded is absorbed into our bodies when we eat red meat and milk products. Despite this, we?ve been eating meat and rejecting fish every chance we?ve gotten since prehistoric days.
The molecular sugar called N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), which is found in non-human mammals, occurs naturally in lamb, pork and beef. Researchers have found that eating red meat causes this molecule to become absorbed into our tissues. This can set off an immune response, since our bodies may see the molecule as an invader. They?ve also found small amounts of Neu5Gc in human cancer tissues, leading to the theory that eating red meat may eventually cause cancer.
read more
Wild meats eaten by ancient hunters contained healthier fats than modern farmed cattle, claims Lauren Cordain of Colorado State University. He and his colleagues have shown that meat from wild elk, deer and antelope contain more beneficial types of fat than meat from today?s grain-fed cattle.
read more
Scientists trying to create alternative food sources for astronauts believe we could grow meat on in a laboratory, without slaughtering fish or animals. Scientists at Touro College in New York have managed to make slices of fish grow bigger this way and believe it will be possible in the future to grow meat in industrial quantities from the muscle cell lines of various animals or fish.
?This could save you having to slaughter animals for food,? says project leader Morris Benjaminson, a bioengineer and veteran of a number of NASA projects on recycling waste onboard spacecraft. He?s working on more varied diets for astronauts, who get tired of freeze-dried dinners and tubes of food.
read more