In the "I think I'll have a salad for lunch, thanks" section of Portfolio, there are two articles covering the creepy future of meat science. The first is basically a summation of what agricultural Prince of Darkness Monsanto and company is up to these days:

In January, the Food and Drug Administration paved the way for GM [genetically modified] meat to be sold in the U.S., announcing they would evaluate GM animals the same way they regulate new animal drugs. Since then a handful of applications for specific GM animals have been filed with the agency, including a fast-growing “AquaAdvantage” salmon. AquaBounty, the company behind the salmon, hopes for FDA approval of the technology sometime this year.

The second article is about a process of growing meat parts (chicken breasts, for example) independent of the rest of the animal. This results in, no lie, something "creamy in color with a texture that falls somewhere between Jell-O and SPAM."

As for taste? "Officially, researchers can't sample any food that hasn’t been OK'd by regulators, but off-the-record it’s clear some have taken a nibble and didn’t exactly rush back for seconds."

Um, yum?

—Paula Forbes