Sustainable Food Sources: Is Human Waste a Solution?

[bombshoo]

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.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltren...rends/japanesescientistscreatesmeatoutoffeces

How do you feel about this? Are the psychological barriers too much to handle? Would you eat human feces if it were guaranteed safe and nutritious? Could this actually take off? Is there people who would have moral or religious opposition to this?

The way I see it, even if they are calling it "meat" how much could it be like the real thing? Would it really be any better than soy or mushrooms as a replacement as a major protein source and even if it was, would the costs of making it edible be too high to make it worthwhile?

While this seems like a radical solution, it does bring into question what we will do (or are willing to do) in order to feed a growing world population while also doing the least damage possible for future generations. While I do doubt that eating human feces is the way of the future, it does seem to make sense if it could become cheap, efficient and the negative connotations about eating human waste ceased to exist. What are other good solutions that don't involve people eating human excrement? I realize there is very little information on this thus far, but would they be better?

 

[civver_764]

Pass a law requiring all corporations to send unused food to countries with uhnger problems.

 

[bombshoo]

Pass a law requiring all corporations to send unused food to countries with uhnger problems.

Solving world hunger isn't exactly the same as making sustainable food sources. The point is to make it last and make it not have a large impact on the environment.

 

[Truronian]

Somehow I don't see this taking off...

Presumably these would have to supplemented with other food, otherwise the second and third generation faeces steaks are going to have decreased nutritional value due the good stuff being absorbed during previous digestions.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

I find the whole concept rather hard to swallow (pun intended).

Surely they can find some other uses for human waste material (like fertilizers, as it's used traditionally). And we do have alternative sources for protein, that aren't as resource-intensive as animal husbandry (or at least I think so).

 

[amadeus]

I call hoax.

 

[bathsheba666]

I can think of a few hamburger chains where one would assume this was long the case...

And if people can ignore the content of sausages, I'm sure they'll get here eventually.

 

[LucyDuke]

Moral opposition to poop-eating?



And yes, we can use it as fertilizer. To grow real food.

 

[Hehehe]

Waste; want not

In all seriousness though, I'm curious to see what comes out of this. Personally though I'm not that eager to try poop meat

 

[Leoreth]

All food is finally only the processed feces of our fauna and flora (or their corpses).

The difference between "natural" and "artificial" only exists in our heads.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

otherwise the second and third generation faeces steaks are going to have decreased nutritional value due the good stuff being absorbed during previous digestions.

Not exactly. Do note that the bacteria in the sewage create the protein with their own metabolic processes. Besides, I think this is supposed to be a supplementary food source, not a primary one.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I can't see this becoming a viable food source for humanity in general, but it's one huge step closer to isolated self-contained habitats like space station, starships or outpost on earths less than habitable locations.

 

[LucyDuke]

Still makes for discussion, but

I call hoax.

nobody can find any corroboration of the story. This is a hypothetical.

 

[Cheetah]

Whatever it is, it will not be allowed to be called "meat" in Norway.

Even mechanically separated meat (MSM in English, MUK in Norwegian) isn't forbidden from being labeled "meat", so it's labeled "MUK" instead. Food with MUK in it (sausages, etc.) do their best not to advertise that they contain MSM, as it is a rather unpopular thing.

Doubt this will successful, especially if they won't be allowed to call it "meat".

 

[Hygro]

Another step completed to dominate the galaxy with a self-sustaining space navy

 

[Hitti-Litti]

I'm not surprised that poop steak was invented in Japan.

 

[Boundless]

This is not eating faeces. This is eating a product that is the result of the extraction of proteins from faeces which is totally different in my opinion. It's more a case of recycling than anything else...

 

[Perfection]

Looks like a hoax. None of the sources lead anywhere credible.

 

[warpus]

Somehow I don't see this taking off...

I don't see it taking off anytime soon either. but you know what? Astronauts drink their own recycled pee, and that doesn't really seem that gross anymore.. Seems a bit normal to me when I think about it, for some reason. Maybe because it's a necessity, up there?

Maybe once all the cows and chickens are gone something like this would catch on.

 

[Truronian]

I don't see it taking off anytime soon either. but you know what? Astronauts drink their own recycled pee, and that doesn't really seem that gross anymore.. Seems a bit normal to me when I think about it, for some reason. Maybe because it's a necessity, up there?

Maybe once all the cows and chickens are gone something like this would catch on.

It is certainly a more appealing prospect than starvation. Unfortunately it's not likely to be those of us with the resources to develop faeces burgers that are likely to be doing the starving.