In the period form 9 till 11 April 2008 the Congress on in vitro meat took place at the Institute of Matforsk in Aas, (http://www.matforsk.no) Norway, where it was said that the price of the bioreactor (big tanks) grown meat would be from 3300 up to 3500 EUR for a tone.
Theoretically speaking, any animal could provide a stem cell for laboratory meat production. There are two known procedures in lab meat production: one is the loss of muscle cell and the other is build up of muscle which is more challenging than the first procedure. The muscle cells can start multiplying if they are triggered by the precursor cell fuse which can be embryonic stem cells or satellite cells. The procedure is continued in the bioreactor. In order to see the muscle grow, the cells must grow gradually, meaning that the cell must be supplied with food and oxygen like it is usually done through blood, the same must be done for cell waste removal. The fat cells should correspond with the growing process, including the chemical messengers which provide the structural tissue growth.
The animal protection activists think that the production of this meat would reduce the animal suffering, but there are also other advantages like: higher hygienic quality of the meat since the microorganism infection wouldn't be present, this meat would be antibiotic and growth hormone free, including that other side effects of animal meat production would be avoided.
In the future in vitro meat would be suitable for space travels since it could be grown during the space trip. The consumers would be offered the various meat (like lion meat) because any kind of meat could be grown in vitro and the production costs would be lower, what is the reason why some kind of meat is not produced now.
If in vitro meat production gets started, we would still use animals in order to obtain stem cell and tissue cultures from animal fetus or new born animals. It is worth mentioning that some consumers because of ethical, cultural or religious reasons would refuse to consume in vitro meat and this meat would look, taste and smell differently and have other texture what some consumers would find repellent.
In five or ten years laboratory grown meat can be find in supermarkets. In order to speed up the commercial production, the organization PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) offered 1 million dollar reward to the scientist who would first start with the industrial in vitro meat production that would taste like chicken, veal or pork. The contest deadline is June 30, 2012 (http://www.peta.org).