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Steak made from human poop passes taste test
Would you eat a steak made from human sewage? Believe it or not, this concept has already been taste-tested and approved.
Thu, Jun 23 2011 at 4:25 AM
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POO'D FOOD: The steaks had a red food coloring added to make them look more like real steaks. (Photo: combust/Flickr)
If you prefer your steak to be cooked rare, you may want to reconsider that choice after hearing about the latest advancement in food technology to come out of Japan: an edible steak made from human feces, reports Discovery News. (Update: Discovery News is now unsure if the story is real and wondering if they were duped. It reminds us of this "Yes Men" poop burger hoax.)
Take a moment to let that gag reflex subside. Now consider this: it's already been taste-tested, approved, and could eventually become a practical solution to sewage treatment. Someday "bowel burgers" may even provide an easy source of protein for the hungry.
The steaks were first envisioned by Japanese researcher Mitsuyuki Ikeda after he was approached by Tokyo Sewage to come up with a solution for the city's overabundance of sewage mud. Although "eating it" probably wouldn't have occurred to most people, Ikeda recognized that the mud was chock full with protein-rich bacteria.
After isolating those proteins in the lab, Ikeda's team then combined them with a reaction enhancer and put them in an exploder. What eventually came out was no filet mignon, but it was edible.
"Theoretically, there's nothing wrong with this," said Douglas Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University. "It could be quite safe to eat, but I'm sure there's a yuck factor there."
To make swallowing the stool steaks a little bit easier, a nutty flavor was added using soy protein, and red food coloring was mixed in too, apparently to make the concoction look more like a juicy, bloody steak. A few brave researchers even took the plunge and taste-tested the product. (Apparently it tastes like regular beef.)
The official composition of the lab-grown steak is 63 percent proteins, 25 percent carbohydrates, 3 percent lipids, and 9 percent minerals. (Which sounds a lot better than 100 percent poop). According to Powell, the idea isn't really all that much different than eating plants that have been fertilized with manure or other excrement.
The idea could even help to solve the world food crisis. By comparison, researchers have also proposed harvesting insect protein (i.e., "bug burgers") as one possible way to help combat famine worldwide. Are "bowel burgers" really so much worse? They also take the ethic of recycling to its logical extreme.
Powell did offer one caveat to the future poo'd food revolution, though: because the steaks are made from human feces, there's always a chance for contamination. If you're brave enough to eat this, at least make certain that it's properly cooked (as if you were going to eat one raw!).
When asked if he would ever consider eating one of the poop steaks if it wasn't cooked, Powell responded matter-of-factly.
"I wouldn't touch it," he said.
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Looks like pork chops to me.
Seriously has anyone heard of ecoli?!?!
Seriously! What in the world?? My husband heard this on the radio as well. At least the word is getting around. Just speechless and worried for the ones who get served this! I went on a dinner date with my hubby and the burger was not beef what so ever, yea I got a pooh burger I know it! I had him taste test it for me and yea, he got pretty upset! Steak Burger was the place. Hmmm that makes sense now, Steak Burger! I will always be haunted buy that burger for as long as I am living.
No, you did not eat a poop burger. This isn't something they can mass produce in restaurants right now. It's something they have to do in a lab.
is that where this expression came from? "Eat s.... and die"?
it's just bypassing several steps in the circle of life
that poop would have gone to bacteria to something else and eventually the cows we eat
but still gross
Hey waiter how come my steak has corn it it?
Isnt this method already used by Taco Bell??
Technically, isn't it just bacteria from the poop that people will eat? So it isn't that bad.
Dang. And I thought the hot dog comment board was fun.
We're glad you're enjoying it, Elwood. :)
—MNN staff
I love poop.
I'd eat it.
They forgot to mention that ITS NO LONGER POOP WHEN IT'S STEAK. I've read about this before, and they use THE MATERIAL FROM POOP, they don't simply mold shit into steak and say "eat this." the author of this article was clearly more concerned with the shock value of the article than the true point of journalism
Like most of you, I won't dare touch it until some brave person who I know can confirm it doesn't (here it comes) taste like shit.
Eat more chikin...& call mythbusters
Are we sure that guy even has taste buds? I'll never look at a steak the same way ever again
Don't eat the Soylant Green.
In Junior High my friends had a lunchtime ritual that happened every day of 9th grade. "Linda" got a Tootsie Roll in her sack lunch and she molded it into the shape of (use your imagination)...then she ate it while we all went "Eeeeeeewwwwww!!!" Even having been conditioned such, I STILL wouldn't eat steak made out of human feces. No amount of catsup or steak sauce could make it taste like real meat. I'd rather eat Soylent Green!
If I catch my dog eating cat feces, he's not allowed back in the house, that's ridiculous.
There are millions of starving humans on this planet. If we could save all our poop, turn it into steak, and send it to the starving citizens of the third world countries. The world's hunger and starvation problems could be solved. Just don't invite me over for a steak!
A new choice on the pupu platter.
That's Gross. Who eat's poop? Eww. Just Thinking Off that! LOL
"I'm gonna click on...decline" :O
I'll have the 1/4 pound cookie burger with a largelarge diet pee.
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