Steak Made from Human Excrement: Is It Safe?

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The discussion centers around the innovative creation of meat from human excrement, specifically through the extraction of proteins from bacteria found in sewage. Japanese researchers have developed a product that consists of 63% proteins, 25% carbohydrates, 3% lipids, and 9% minerals, with added soy protein for flavor enhancement. This initiative was prompted by Tokyo Sewage's request to utilize the excess sewage in mud, as reported by Digital Trends. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of food production and societal perceptions of unconventional food sources.

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Ok, I understand that they are extracting "basic food elements" from sewage, but...

The Japanese researchers isolated proteins from bacteria in sewage. The poop-meat concoction is prepared by extracting the basic elements of food — protein, carbohydrates and fats — and recombining them.

The meat is made from 63 percent proteins, 25 percent carbohydrates, 3 percent lipids and 9 percent minerals, according to Digital Trends. Soy protein is added to the mix to increase the flavor, and food coloring is used to make the product appear red.

The researchers came up with the idea after Tokyo Sewage asked them to figure out a use for the abundance of sewage in mud, Digital Trends says.
continued...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110618/sc_livescience/steakmadefromhumanexcrementisitsafe;_ylt=AnhzfLWWuh5k4DsbmDev5p6b.HQA;_ylu=X3oDMTQ2dnRuYml0BGFzc2V0A2xpdmVzY2llbmNlLzIwMTEwNjE4L3N0ZWFrbWFkZWZyb21odW1hbmV4Y3JlbWVudGlzaXRzYWZlBGNjb2RlA3RvcGdtcHRvcDIwMHBvb2wEY3BvcwM4BHBvcwM4BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDc3RlYWttYWRlZnJv
 
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Biology news on Phys.org
Yah I'm not clicking that link.
 
Pengwuino said:
Yah I'm not clicking that link.

Me either.

Where do you find this stuff Evo? :smile:

Edit: Oh wait. It's Yahoo.
 
Whatever ounce of hope I had for humanity has been stripped.
 
dlgoff said:
Me either.

Where do you find this stuff Evo? :smile:

Edit: Oh wait. It's Yahoo.
It's Livescience. :biggrin:
 
Soylent brown?

Oh wait they make it red. So Soylent red?
 
Hurkyl said:
Soylent brown?

Oh wait they make it red. So Soylent red?
It's poople!
 
OMG. I clicked. First line:
The mere idea is stomach-churning: creating food from human feces.

Well on second thought, it could be worse. I once was was so thirsty when trying to live off the land (much younger then) that I almost drank water (?) from a cows hoof print.
 
Evo said:
It's poople!
Hahahahahahaha! Best one ever!
 
  • #10
Might make a fortune from the cookbook.

Or not.
 
  • #11
Something happens to all that poop we produce. Where did you think it went?
 
  • #12
i thought it fed the mutants in the sewers
 
  • #13
This kinda stuff makes me wonder why everyone is so down on eating horse meat. Obviously we're looking at much weirder things to eat!
 
  • #14
Pengwuino said:
This kinda stuff makes me wonder why everyone is so down on eating horse meat. Obviously we're looking at much weirder things to eat!

How do you know everyone is down on eating horse meat? I, personally, have never been offered any to refuse.
 
  • #15
zoobyshoe said:
How do you know everyone is down on eating horse meat? I, personally, have never been offered any to refuse.

Exactly.
 
  • #16
Pengwuino said:
Exactly.
But why should anyone be offered horse when cows are so much easier to raise? Horses are touchy and a lot more nimble.
 
  • #17
So much for eating rare steaks.
 
  • #18
zoobyshoe said:
But why should anyone be offered horse when cows are so much easier to raise? Horses are touchy and a lot more nimble.

Well, people don't just eat the easiest to raise foods :)

All of a sudden I have a craving for shark meat.
 
  • #19
Pengwuino said:
All of a sudden I have a craving for shark meat.

From what I understand, you get a lot of shark meat in a McDonald's fish fillet sandwich.

They snag tons of sharks when fishing for tuna.
 
  • #20
Shark is very tasty. I'd put thresher shark up there with swordfish for flavor.
 
  • #21
zoobyshoe said:
Shark is very tasty. I'd put thresher shark up there with swordfish for flavor.
Shark does taste like swordfish, I've had swordfish more than shark, but both numerous times.

I saw on tv that swordfish should not be eaten due to the high mercury content.

Do not eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.

http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishshellfish/outreach/advice_index.cfm

I'm guilty of eating all.

I guess poop steak is lower in mercury?
 
  • #23
Wonder what penguin tastes like? I should think the Tierra Del Fuegans must have had to eat a penguin now and then. It's a bleak place.
 
  • #24
I'm really wondering what the point of poop steak could be. Is the idea to get rid of poop? Or is it to make a cheap edible? It sounds to me like there's a lot of processing to it, so I wonder if it could really be that much cheaper than something else that would be vastly more appetizing.
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
From what I understand, you get a lot of shark meat in a McDonald's fish fillet sandwich.

They snag tons of sharks when fishing for tuna.

naw, they don't use tuna in mcdonalds fillet-o-fish. Pollock is generally the most common commercial fish resource for prepared foods (frozen fish n chips or imitation crab, for instance). McDonald's supplements with another popular commercial fish: hoki.

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/itemDetailInfo.do?itemID=5926

I've never seen hoki before, but I've fished pollock on a longlining boat. Soft-bellied fish, gets softer fast post-mortem. Cheap (I owed the skipper after that season) and slimy little bastards.

Never longlined again after that trip. Seining for salmon and hering is much more gratifying. Plus, I don't like playing with hundreds of hooks every night that far from town; call me risk adverse.
 
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  • #26
Pythagorean said:
naw, they don't use tuna in mcdonalds fillet-o-fish. Pollock is generally the most common commercial fish resource for prepared foods (frozen fish n chips or imitation crab, for instance). McDonald's supplements with another popular commercial fish: hoki.

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/itemDetailInfo.do?itemID=5926
Modern Marvels has an episode about the enormous "floating fish factories" that catch, process, and freeze all those pollock for McDonald's. They sort the fish by hand at a couple points, so sharks and other unwanted fish wouldn't get mixed in, you're right.
 
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  • #27
You guys and girls do know how aspartame is made don't you?
 
  • #28
chiro said:
You guys and girls do know how aspartame is made don't you?

No.

This isn't another Wiener joke is it?
 
  • #29
OmCheeto said:
No.

This isn't another Wiener joke is it?

No I am being serious.



Upon looking at some related results, it appears other substances are created in the same sort of way with other organisms, but I can't comment on that since any comment would be pure speculation and unjustified.
 
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  • #30
chiro said:
No I am being serious.



Upon looking at some related results, it appears other substances are created in the same sort of way with other organisms, but I can't comment on that since any comment would be pure speculation and unjustified.

Hmmm. That guy gets a lot of information about the world from "reading between the lines" of episodes of the Simpsons, don't you think?

I have always thought of the byproducts of bacteria as that: byproducts. To start calling any of them "poop" is to put an unnecessarily unpleasant spin on them. The alcohol industry might have to be exposed as selling "bacteria pee", and the bread industry might have to confess that bread contains a large amount of "yeast farts".
 
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