[akiselev]

From the article:

> Asked about bovine serum, Noyes told AFN: “Today’s FDA clearance, which was years in the making, involved a chicken cell line that is produced with a very low level of animal-derived nutrients that are effectively removed through the harvesting and washing procedure. Like in Singapore, our team will be pursuing an amendment for serum-free media with the FDA.”

> He added: “GOOD Meat’s R&D operations have been free from animal-derived nutrients for over three years, and in January, we received the world’s first approval for serum-free media in Singapore, where we’ve been selling our cultivated chicken for more than two years. Moving to non-animal derived nutrients will not only lead to greater scalability and lower manufacturing costs, but also a more sustainable product.”

[dehrmann]

As a curious vegetarian (which at this point must be a lot of their prospective market), the bovine serum is a dealbreaker.

[trompetenaccoun]

Do you consume dairy products?

[phire]

I'm not a vegetarian, but even I feel it's not directly equivalent.

[myshpa]

I think it's relevant.

All dairy cows are forcibly impregnated every year to keep producing milk, calves are removed from their mother immediately after being born, usually not far away, so they both are able to hear one another, but not able to be together (as not to "waste" the milk used for human consumption). Male calves or female calves not fit for milk production are either sent to the slaughterhouse after gaining veal slaughter weight (when max 2 years old), or are killed immediately.

Cow's life is shortened by the milk production, usually from 20-25 years (48 is the record) to the industry's max of 5-6 years.

All dairy cows are then killed in the slaughterhouse and if pregnant, the fetus is extracted (they cut dead mother's belly and let it fall on the floor) and harvested for bovine serum (usually with cardiac puncture, wherein a needle is inserted into its heart and it's bled out to death).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_bovine_serum

https://dairy-cattle.extension.org/adult-dairy-cow-mortality...

https://www.farmsanctuary.org/news-stories/the-real-life-of-...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/26/dairy-di...

[trompetenaccoun]

If you took a look at how cows are treated in factory farms, it might change your feeling. I have seen people get physically sick when they found out.

[allisdust]

Aah yes. Dairy consumption is at same humane level as procuring fetal bovine serum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_bovine_serum

[bayesian_horse]

You can make an argument that FBS is not adding to the suffering of animals. At the moment it is just collected as a side product and most of it is thrown away.

There are always multiple products from raising an animal. Some of them, especially the filet pieces, drive the number of animals being raised and slaughtered. Others are sold at a discount, sometimes quite sharp, some edible products are actually thrown away. You don't drive animal cruelty with FBS, or even low-priced parts of the actual animal. Up to the point where demand is outstripping the "side chain supply".

Can't say all that for milk. Cows are raised for giving milk, and at the end of their lives slaughtered. They have to give birth to calves every year, half of which are male and slaughtered much earlier. That meat is actually cheaper than meat from cattle raised specifically for meat generation, because it's a side chain and the meat is of lesser quality but it is available. A similar dynamic applies to chicken.

[mgrandl]

No it’s not. Dairy consumption is far, far worse.

[HDThoreaun]

Dairy farms rape all the cows to keep them producing milk.

[i67vw3]

There is a difference between being vegetarian and being vegan.

A lot of vegetarians do eat/drink dairy products like milk.