Juicier Steaks Soon? The UK Approves Testing of Gene-Edited Cow Feed (telegraph.co.uk)
- Reference: 0181071242
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/21/2036248/juicier-steaks-soon-the-uk-approves-testing-of-gene-edited-cow-feed
- Source link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/21/juicier-steaks-on-menu-gene-edited-cow-feed-approved/
> In an effort to fatten up cows and get them to market faster, scientists have altered the DNA of Golden Promise barley to increase its fat content... [Regulators have approved the feeding of that barley to cows for further studies.] [T]he small increase reduces the time it takes for farmers to raise animals for slaughter and increases the amount of milk and meat they produce to make the industry more profitable.
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> The gene-edited barley is also able to cut the amount of methane a cow produces, [Rothamsted Research professor/biochemist Peter] Eastmond said... Reducing [2]methane from cattle is a major goal of the industry, and Professor Eastmond estimated his barley could cut the methane output from a single cow by up to 15%.
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> The two genetic tweaks to the barley are believed to alter the gut bacteria in cows' stomachs and reduce the amount of methane-generating microbes, cutting the cows' emissions.... [Eastmond] is also working on applying the same two gene edits to rye grass to create pastures and meadows which are lipid-rich and calorie-dense. This, he said, could lead to entire fields of gene-edited grass which could be grazed by cows, sheep, horses and goats to fatten them up and cut emissions... "It would be better to have this technology in a pasture grass that's grown to supply the livestock and graze it directly."
The barley "has been modified to have a single letter of DNA removed from two different genes to switch them off," the article points out. "No genes have been added to its DNA and it is not considered to be genetically modified."
The article points out that Britain "has launched a push towards more gene-edited crops as a key post-Brexit freedom since splitting from the European Union," noting that U.K. scientists and private companies "have created products such as [3]bread with fewer cancer-causing chemicals , longer-lasting strawberries and bananas, sweeter-tasting lettuce and disease-resistant potatoes, although these are yet to be granted permission to land on supermarket shelves..."
But the EU has so far resisted the sale of any gene-edited crops in the EU.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [4]fjo3 for sharing the article.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/21/juicier-steaks-on-menu-gene-edited-cow-feed-approved/
[2] https://science.slashdot.org/story/16/08/20/194237/can-cow-backpacks-reduce-global-methane-emissions
[3] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/13/scientists-genetically-edit-bread-cut-cancer-causing-chemical/
[4] https://www.slashdot.org/~fjo3
Oh Noze! (Score:1)
Golden Promise is my favorite barely for beer making! (Home Alone face slap emoji here).
Re: Oh Noze! (Score:2)
I was just thinking "So this is going to make my Scottish ale fattier? How's that going to work?"
Re: (Score:2)
If that's true, liberals are becoming very tasty these days.
All the right reasons (Score:3)
Ah, yes, because nothing screams “bold post-Brexit innovation” like gene-editing barley so cows can burp less methane while we get juicier steaks faster. Bravo, UK! You’ve finally hopped on the GMO train—not for the boring old reasons like, y’know, feeding starving people or actually solving real agricultural problems—but because an island that contributes roughly 1% of global emissions (look it up, it’s adorable) is dead-set on slashing its own cow farts by a whopping 15%. That’s right, folks: the planet’s fate hangs in the balance of British livestock flatulence, and this single-letter DNA tweak is apparently the heroic fix.
Even Bill Nye—the guy who used to side-eye GMOs like they were radioactive—eventually came around and endorsed them specifically as a tool against world hunger. But nah, why bother with anything as pedestrian as ending famine when you can virtue-signal about climate while the actual heavy emitters (China, India, the US) keep right on trucking? Genius. This isn’t science; it’s eco-therapy for a nation convinced their pasture tweaks will cool the globe.
And the best part? It’s not even “GMO” in the scary EU sense—no foreign genes added, just two switches flipped off. Yet here we are, celebrating it because it makes the meat industry slightly more profitable and the cows slightly less gassy. Truly, the future is moo-ving in the right direction straight into irrelevance. Well played, Britain. Well played.
Re: All the right reasons (Score:2)
> The article points out that Britain "has launched a push towards more gene-edited crops as a key post-Brexit freedom since splitting from the European Union," noting that U.K. scientists and private companies "have created products such as bread with fewer cancer-causing chemicals, longer-lasting strawberries and bananas, sweeter-tasting lettuce and disease-resistant potatoes, although these are yet to be granted permission to land on supermarket shelves..."
And this poster points out that the Torygraph has been printing anti-EU propaganda and outright fabrications for decades. The science reporting might be sound but the editor can't resist trying to make a dig against Europe even if the complaint is complete bollocks. The DT for a long time pushed the outright lie about the UK getting faster access to new covid vaccines, promulgated by that mendacious cunt Boris Johnson, when the truth is that it was EMA regulations that allowed for rapid rollout of new vacci
Re: (Score:2)
Brexitland will have to add a genetic certificate additional to the veterinary certificate for EVERYBODY wanting to export beef to the EU.
So much for their famous 'reset'.
In est in lab meat (Score:3)
Ultimately, when we eventually get to good tasting, cheap and rapid lab grown meat we won't need to flatten cows just to eat them.
...and we will need less things involving managing their lives and transporting them.
It's not going to make money for years but it is in the public interest. Exactly the sort of project a government should back.
Re: In est in lab meat (Score:3)
Invest* (Third bloody time I had to type it. Second time was "ivest" #Dyslexia)
Re: In est in lab meat (Score:2)
> we won't need to flatten cows just to eat them
Lab grown meat is initially formed in thin sheets, right? So isnâ(TM)t flattening cows exactly what weâ(TM)d be doing?
Re: Yes zero emission cows is the way to go (Score:2)
Zero emission cars are an accounting trick.
Just like carbon neutral flying. Where I live the local government sells credits for the forests they were already going to have. Companies claim full offset, but it really isnâ(TM)t.
It would be great if more farmers fed their cows diets that produce less methane. That would be a net benefit
Re: (Score:2)
> Exactly the sort of project a government should back.
Agree totally, the state can focus research on the foundations of long term important technology and reap the payback over the future from the economic productivity generated from the nations leadership in the industry. This can ensure no single company owns foundational patents, allowing a competitive industry to come up and one you can grow in your own nation since you, the public, all of us are at the core of it.
For some reason a lot of people fight this idea but at the same thing acknowledge the realit