A group of scientists from the Netherlands who grew mammoth flesh in a lab is reportedly scared to consume the meat due to the potential dangers of the ancient protein.
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The prehistoric meatball was created by an Australian meat company that mixed mammoth muscle protein created from a DNA sequence by scientists. The DNA gaps were filled with code from an elephant since the animal is the mammoth’s closest living relative, as reported by the Daily Mail. Then the sequence was placed in a sheep’s myoblast stem cells, which was used to grow 20 billion cells to create authentic mammoth meat.
After creating the meat, scientists are afraid to eat the meat as the ancient meat could be proven deadly. ‘We haven’t seen this protein for thousands of years. So we have no idea how our immune system would react when we eat it,’ said Professor Ernst Wolvetang of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering at the University of Queensland.
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Additionally, he said the process was easy and fast, as it was completed within a couple of weeks. Professor Wolvrtang noted that the original goal was to make dodo meat, but the DNA sequence needed to create this meat did not exist and made it impossible. Vox, the company that helped the scientists create the mammoth meat, said their goal is to convince meat eaters to try unconventional animal products. ‘The goal is to transition a few billion meat eaters away from eating [conventional] animal protein to eating things that can be produced in electrified systems,’ said George Peppou, CEO of Vow.
‘And we believe the best way to do that is to invent meat. We look for cells that are easy to grow, really tasty and nutritious, and then mix and match those cells to create really tasty meat.’
Social media reacted to the mammoth meatball and shared their various opinion.
The mammoth meatball raised many questions as some Twitter users were perplexed by the idea of eating extinct meat.