[Avodah] Synthetic Meat

[Joe Slater]

My understanding is that this "meat" at present is grown in material
extracted from calves, so it's almost certainly  fleishig (and probably
treif). Suppose at some stage it can be grown on a kosher pareve substrate.
I would argue that it will still be fleishig and follow the kashrut of its
source: kosher if shechted, treif otherwise.

My reasoning is that this is unlike yoghurt and so forth, where the
substance consumed is predominantly a kosher one that has been transformed
by the action of an additive (e.g., bacteria with a treif origin). In this
case there is no additive as such: the original cells replicate and the
producer extracts them and molds them into the desired shape. The finished
product is never distinct from the original cells: if we started with a
single cell then that cell would divide into two cells, each of those into
another two and so forth. Every single one of those cells is as "original"
as any other one. Why should we say that the original cell became kosher
when it split into two? I believe that at no point would a replicating cell
from a treif animal become kosher: it's effectively the same cell and it
derives its kashrut from its source.

Joe Slater
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