[Avodah] Synthetic Meat

[Zev Sero]

On 5/08/2013 6:22 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 05, 2013 at 08:34:59PM +0000, Gershon Dubin wrote:
> : Different than a veggie burger?  We don't do our own gezeiros.
>
> Which is why I thought the pesaq would depend on whether we consider this
> meat already covered by the gezeira against a ben paqua or not. I don't
> know how a poseiq could tell if the gezeira intended to cover just a BP
> or on every case of meat that doesn't require shechitah. Biologically,
> it has some resemblence to a BP, but that would require ascribing halachic
> mamashus to stem cells, something I don't think my rebbe would do.

A BP is meat.  This is a sort of fungus.  If we were to scan a piece of bacon
down to the molecular level and then synthesize a molecule-for-molecule copy
using raw materials gathered from mineral sources, it would surely be kosher
and parev, and have no connection to a BP.  If this were uncommon then one
might extend to it the requirement that almond milk have a siman, just as we
used to do to margarine and soy milk; but as we stopped doing that when they
became ubiquitous, we would surely also do with this.


-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
zev at sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan