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Better Pork Featured Articles

Better Pork magazine is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Lab-grown meat - Earth's saviour or unnatural?

Monday, August 4, 2014

Cultured meat, in vitro meat, test-tube meat – the stuff goes by many names. Some see it as the only feasible option for an overpopulated Earth. Others turn up their noses at the concept, calling it "unnatural."

Two Dutch researchers, Cor van der Weele and Johannes Tramper, hope to bridge the divide. In a paper published in the June issue of Trends in Biotechnology, they envision a future in which "pigs in backyards or on animal-friendly (urban) farms would serve as the living donors of muscle stem cells through biopsies. These pigs live happy lives as companion animals while their cells are cultured in local meat factories."

The pigs would suffer only the occasional prick of a needle, and consumers would be able to see and touch the living pig that produced their meat. This, van der Weele and Tramper believe, would "reverse feelings of alienation."

The paper cites research estimating that cultured meat could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use by 90 per cent compared with standard European beef production. At this point, production of the "cultured-meat slurry" (yum!) is too costly to make it a real market contender. BP

Current Issue

October 2025

Better Pork Magazine

Farms.com Swine News

Ag in the House: Oct. 20 – 24

Friday, October 31, 2025

MPs brought up ag and related issues multiple times during last week’s question period. On Oct. 20, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked if the Liberals would remove four taxes to make food more affordable for Canadians. “They now have four inflationary taxes that apply to... Read this article online

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Thursday, October 30, 2025

New Strategy Aims to Boost Canada’s Organic Agriculture The Canadian Organic Alliance; a coalition of the Canada Organic Trade Association, Canadian Organic Growers, and the Organic Federation of Canada has unveiled an Organic Action Plan for Canada. The initiative urges federal and... Read this article online

CGC licencing change updates

Thursday, October 30, 2025

A company in B.C. recently received a licence from the Canadian Grain Commission. As of Oct. 22, Seatarra Ingredient Alliance West Ltd. at 305-4190 Lougheed Highway in Burnaby, B.C., has a grain dealer licence. This type of licence is for “a person who, for reward, on his own behalf or... Read this article online

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