Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Soylent Pink?

In Wake of Twin Bans on Pink Slime and Abortion-Cell Flavor Enhancers, Local Biotech Shifts Gears

"When life gives you lemons, make a new and terrifying food product."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/07/23996/

MIRAMAR - "We get it," said Senomyx Chief Engineering Officer Hans Von Hanselhans. "Nobody wants to see how their sausage gets made. They just want the delicious and inexpensive results of what can be a gruesome - if completely legal and totally sanitary - process. Fair enough."

Von Hanselhans was referring to two recent food-related controversies wherein scientific breakthroughs have been reversed by popular outcry. In the first, many national grocery chains promised to stop using finely-textured beef - so-called "pink slime" - to bulk up their traditional ground beef. "Pink slime is just super-ground beef," he argued. "If anything, it's less fatty and more sanitary than regular ground beef. But people see the texture and hear the word 'ammonia,' and suddenly, they think Big Food is trying to kill them. When really, Big Food is trying to get the most out of every cow it slaughters, so that you can make your delicious burgers for less."

In the second, pro-life activists agitated for a boycott of PepsiCo products when it was revealed that the company had contracted with Senomyx, a local biotech that producers organic flavor enhancers. The activists objected because Senomyx used Human Embryo Kindney cells obtained from an electively aborted fetus in its development process. PepsiCo eventually disavowed the use of fetal cells in connection with its products.

"On the one hand, you had an industry that had just lost a huge source of supply," explained Von Hanselhans. "On the other, you had a company that just lost a major client. So we evolved on the fly, and shifted from an emphasis on improved food quality to an emphasis on quantity. It turns out that fetal cells can be made to grow at astonishing rates in the right conditions. Processed correctly, the resultant material looks and tastes an awful lot like pink slime. But it's not pink slime. We're calling it Human Beef Supplement, or HBS. The beef people get their cheap supply line back, and as long as no one goes hollering to the press, everybody's happy."

"Wait," added Von Hanselhans. "You're not recording this, are you?"

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

A cool year in a warming pacific

Pelagic species have comfort zones
Next Article

Codename Stasis found its format at SDSU

Local zine tells a magical local story

In Wake of Twin Bans on Pink Slime and Abortion-Cell Flavor Enhancers, Local Biotech Shifts Gears

"When life gives you lemons, make a new and terrifying food product."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/07/23996/

MIRAMAR - "We get it," said Senomyx Chief Engineering Officer Hans Von Hanselhans. "Nobody wants to see how their sausage gets made. They just want the delicious and inexpensive results of what can be a gruesome - if completely legal and totally sanitary - process. Fair enough."

Von Hanselhans was referring to two recent food-related controversies wherein scientific breakthroughs have been reversed by popular outcry. In the first, many national grocery chains promised to stop using finely-textured beef - so-called "pink slime" - to bulk up their traditional ground beef. "Pink slime is just super-ground beef," he argued. "If anything, it's less fatty and more sanitary than regular ground beef. But people see the texture and hear the word 'ammonia,' and suddenly, they think Big Food is trying to kill them. When really, Big Food is trying to get the most out of every cow it slaughters, so that you can make your delicious burgers for less."

In the second, pro-life activists agitated for a boycott of PepsiCo products when it was revealed that the company had contracted with Senomyx, a local biotech that producers organic flavor enhancers. The activists objected because Senomyx used Human Embryo Kindney cells obtained from an electively aborted fetus in its development process. PepsiCo eventually disavowed the use of fetal cells in connection with its products.

"On the one hand, you had an industry that had just lost a huge source of supply," explained Von Hanselhans. "On the other, you had a company that just lost a major client. So we evolved on the fly, and shifted from an emphasis on improved food quality to an emphasis on quantity. It turns out that fetal cells can be made to grow at astonishing rates in the right conditions. Processed correctly, the resultant material looks and tastes an awful lot like pink slime. But it's not pink slime. We're calling it Human Beef Supplement, or HBS. The beef people get their cheap supply line back, and as long as no one goes hollering to the press, everybody's happy."

"Wait," added Von Hanselhans. "You're not recording this, are you?"

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

North Park residents propose alternate design for contested Jack in the Box remodel

Next Article

Stone serves the impossible

The latest meat-free burger lands in San Diego
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader