Environmentalists and animal rights advocates have high hopes for vat meat (AKA in vitro meat). If we produce meat in a lab we avoid slaughtering animals, methane flatulence, polluting water tables, and even the offensive odors of feed lots. It also strikes me as a path to very inexpensive food. How about a $5 filet mignon? And while we're at it, let's make them healthier too. Throw some Omega-3 fatty acid in there.

The problem: so far "meat" grown in labs is deserving of scare quotes. Its been described as having the look and consistency of a tumor. Mmmm. Can't wait to throw that on the grill.

But on the way to palatable vat meat, there might be an intermediate step. Why not use vat meat as feed stock? Most of the animals we eat are vegetarian. So there's no need to create vat meat for cows or chickens. Fish is another matter:

Aquaculture, once a fledgling industry, now accounts for 50 percent of the fish consumed globally...

Unlike the ocean, we won't over-fish our farms. So the growth of aquaculture would be great environmental news except...

In 2006, aquaculture production was 51.7 million metric tons, and about 20 million metric tons of wild fish were harvested for the production of fishmeal.

So even aquaculture hits the oceans pretty hard. Suggestion: why not scale up vat meat to make fish meal? Or pet food. If its commercially possible to make environmentally-friendly animal food this way, then the research dollars could start flowing in to make vat meat for human consumption.

H/T Randall Parker