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Human bodies aren’t being processed into meat products. The Human Meat Project is ‘conceptual art.’
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The website HumanMeatProject.com exists, but the group said it is not actually soliciting donated bodies and organs to create alternative meat products.
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The site is "purely a conceptual art project and will not be acted out in real life," according to the group’s website.
An alarming video has racked up thousands of views on TikTok and Facebook. In it, a woman claims that an organization plans to slow climate change and reduce overpopulation and starvation by processing human bodies into meat products. The video gives the impression that shoppers will soon find human meat beside the pork and chicken products at the grocery store.
The first thing viewers see in the Dec. 11 video is a woman and text that read, "Human ‘meat’?!" followed by a string of emojis that convey shock and disgust.
"Have y’all ever heard about this? The Human Meat Project? People for People?" the woman said. "I thought this was a joke until I started digging more and I realized this is real, and it gets worse."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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(Screenshot from Facebook.)
In the video, the woman shows multiple website screenshots. "One body can feed up to 40 people. Together we can end world starvation, overpopulation and climate change," she said, reading from a screenshot. "We believe that by donating bodies and/or organs we can make a change by creating alternative meat consumption options while addressing the value of a person’s body."
Another screenshot appeared, displaying labels saying such things as, "Human meat: Ribs" and "Ingredients: 100% human meat."
"Here’s some ‘meat’ products that you can choose from," the woman said.
There is a website called HumanMeatProject.com, but the group said in a disclaimer that it is not actually soliciting donated bodies and organs to create "alternative meat" options.
Clicking on "Terms & Conditions" at the site’s bottom right portion pulls up a page that says, "This is purely a conceptual art project and will not be acted out in real life."
(Screenshots from The Human Meat Project website.)
"The Human Meat Project merely provides conceptual artwork," it continues. "The existence of these pages on the website or paper form does not and is not intended to be act in a real life nor deliberately/attempting to break the UN and any legal constitution law existing worldwide. Human Meat Project is a conceptual art project to give an understanding of the importance of accepting any services’ policy and agreements."
Featured Fact-check
It’s not immediately clear that the website is an online art piece, but the video shared widely on social media misrepresents the project’s true nature by suggesting that an organization is actually creating human meat products. That is not the case.
The "Terms & Conditions" page from The Human Meat Project. (screenshot)
We reached out to The Human Meat Project for more information about the purpose of this "conceptual art" and did not hear back.
But there is no evidence to suggest the group is actually collecting human bodies and processing them into meat products.
We rate this claim False.
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Our Sources
Facebook post, Dec. 11, 2022
TikTok post, Dec. 8, 2022
Human Meat Project website, accessed Dec. 12, 2022
Human Meat Project, Terms and condition of use agreement policy, accessed Dec. 12, 2022
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Human bodies aren’t being processed into meat products. The Human Meat Project is ‘conceptual art.’
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