Soylent green is people!

I came across two articles today that were both disturbing and intriguing. The first article features a new method for making human based gelatin which is actually more predictable than animal based gelatin. To develop this product human gelatin genes are inserted into a strain of yeast, which can produce gelatin with controllable features. The thought of eating human protein is disturbing, yet is it really any worse than eating animal based gelatin which is composed of cow and pig ligaments and connective tissues? Here is the link to the full article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110713101952.htm

The second article features a synthetic meat burger made from protein extracted from human feces. Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda (pictured above) uses sewage mud one of the main ingredients in his artificial meat. The process sounds less than appetizing. The protein lipids are whipped into "meat" and make more savory by adding soya and steak sauce. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/artificial-meat-made-from-poop.html

Neither of these products sound like ones I will be eating anytime soon but it is interesting to think scientists are turning towards humans and their by products as a food source. Enjoy!