What about a Brad Pitt burger? Not made by him, but from him!

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association's Director of Government and International Relations, John Masswohl, says that's a possibility after attending an international meat industry gathering in Paris last week.

"I saw some presentations over there of other things that are being developed. They're now saying they can produce that laboratory product using all kinds of different animal cells, including human cells. Maybe even have it made from your favourite celebrity. They're also talking about in Japan being able to extract protein from human feces from the municipal waste systems."

Masswohl says, if consumers have concerns about hormones used to raise meat, he's not sure they'll bite into this.

He says, the meat industry's not against new technology, but there's some ground rules that need to be laid out if they want to sell these lab grown products as meat.

"They want to position their product as 'clean', which of course implies that traditional meat is not clean, and in fact, traditional meat is actually good for the environment and actively we're finding ways to make it even better."

Masswohl says, the traditional meat industry plans to reach out and work constructively with companies developing lab grown meat to make sure they're honest with consumers about their product .

He says, they'll have to wait and see how well this approach goes over.

A new survey from Dalhousie University shows Canadians aren't quite ready to buy into eating lab grown meat and insect protein.

 

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