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Frankenburger, the world’s first lab-grown burger, was cooked and eaten at a news conference in London today.
Dutch scientists took cells from a cow and turned them into strips of muscle that they combined to make a patty.
Researchers say the technology could be a sustainable way of meeting what they say is a growing demand for meat.
Critics say that eating less meat would be an easier way to tackle predicted food shortages.
The burger was cooked by chef Richard McGowan, from Cornwall, and tasted by food critics Hanni Ruetzler and Josh Schonwald.
Upon tasting the burger, Austrian food researcher Hanni Ruetzler said: “I was expecting the texture to be more soft… there is quite some intense taste; it’s close to meat, but it’s not that juicy. The consistency is perfect, but I miss salt and pepper.”
She added: “This is meat to me. It’s not falling apart.”
Food writer Josh Schonwald said: “The mouthfeel is like meat. I miss the fat, there’s a leanness to it, but the general bite feels like a hamburger.
“What was consistently different was flavor.”
Prof Mark Post, of Maastricht University, the scientist behind the burger, remarked: “It’s a very good start.”
He said the meat was made up of tens of billions of lab-grown cells. Asked when lab-grown burgers would reach the market, he said: “I think it will take a while. This is just to show we can do it.”
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has been revealed as the project’s mystery backer.
The world’s first lab-grown burger was cooked and eaten at a news conference in London
Prof. Tara Garnett, head of the Food Policy Research Network at Oxford University, said decision-makers needed to look beyond technological solutions.
“We have a situation where 1.4 billion people in the world are overweight and obese, and at the same time one billion people worldwide go to bed hungry,” she said.
“That’s just weird and unacceptable. The solutions don’t just lie with producing more food but changing the systems of supply and access and affordability, so not just more food but better food gets to the people who need it.”
Stem cells are the body’s “master cells”, the templates from which specialized tissue such as nerve or skin cells develop.
Most institutes working in this area are trying to grow human tissue for transplantation to replace worn-out or diseased muscle, nerve cells or cartilage.
Prof. Mark Post is using similar techniques to grow muscle and fat for food.
He starts with stem cells extracted from cow muscle tissue. In the laboratory, these are cultured with nutrients and growth-promoting chemicals to help them develop and multiply. Three weeks later, there are more than a million stem cells, which are put into smaller dishes where they coalesce into small strips of muscle about a centimetre long and a few millimetres thick.
These strips are collected into small pellets, which are frozen. When there are enough, they are defrosted and compacted into a patty just before being cooked.
Because the meat is initially white in color, Helen Breewood – who works with Prof. Mark Post – is trying to make the lab-grown muscle look red by adding the naturally-occurring compound myoglobin.
“If it doesn’t look like normal meat, if it doesn’t taste like normal meat, it’s not… going to be a viable replacement,” she said.
She added: “A lot of people consider lab-grown meat repulsive at first. But if they consider what goes into producing normal meat in a slaughterhouse, I think they would also find that repulsive.”
Currently, this is a work in progress. The burger revealed today was colored red with beetroot juice. The researchers have also added breadcrumbs, caramel and saffron, which were intended to add to the taste, although Hanni Ruetzler said she could not taste these.
At the moment, scientists can only make small pieces of meat; larger ones would require artificial circulatory systems to distribute nutrients and oxygen.
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Frankenburger, the world’s first lab-grown burger, is to be unveiled and eaten at a news conference in London on Monday.
Scientists took cells from a cow and, at an institute in the Netherlands, turned them into strips of muscle which they combined to make a patty.
Researchers say the technology could be a sustainable way of meeting what they say is a growing demand for meat.
Critics say that eating less meat would be an easier way to tackle predicted food shortages.
Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University, the scientist behind the burger, said: “Later today we are going to present the world’s first hamburger made in a lab from cells. We are doing that because livestock production is not good for the environment, it is not going to meet demand for the world and it is not good for animals.”
But Prof. Tara Garnett, head of the Food Policy Research Network at Oxford University, said decision-makers needed to look beyond technological solutions.
“We have a situation where 1.4 billion people in the world are overweight and obese, and at the same time one billion people worldwide go to bed hungry,” she said.
“That’s just weird and unacceptable. The solutions don’t just lie with producing more food but changing the systems of supply and access and affordability so not just more food but better food gets to the people who need it.”
Stem cells are the body’s “master cells”, the templates from which specialized tissue, such as nerve or skin cells develop.
Frankenburger, the world’s first lab-grown burger, is to be unveiled and eaten at a news conference in London
Most institutes working in this area are trying to grow human tissue for transplantation, to replace worn out or diseased muscle, nerve cells or cartilage.
Mark Post wants to use similar techniques to grow muscle and fat for food.
He starts with stem cells extracted from cow muscle tissue. In the laboratory, these are cultured with nutrients and growth promoting chemicals to help them develop and multiply. Three weeks later, there are more than a million stem cells which are put into smaller dishes where they coalesce into small strips of muscle about a centimetre long and a few millimetres thick.
These strips are collected into small pellets which are frozen. When there are enough, they are defrosted and compacted into a patty just before being cooked.
The scientists have tried to make the meat – which is initially white in color – as authentic as possible. Helen Breewood, who is working with Prof. Mark Post, makes the lab-grown muscle look red by adding the naturally occurring compound myoglobin.
Currently, this is a work in progress. The burger to be revealed on Monday will be colored red with beetroot juice. The researchers have also added breadcrumbs, caramel and saffron, which will add to the taste.
At the moment, scientists can only make small pieces of meat; larger ones would require artificial circulatory systems to distribute nutrients and oxygen.
Prof. Mark Post said initial sampling suggests the burger will not taste great, but he expected it to be “good enough”.
Helen Breewood is a vegetarian because she believes meat production to be waste of resources, but says she would eat lab-grown meat.
“A lot of people consider lab-grown meat repulsive at first. But if they consider what goes into producing normal meat in a slaughter house I think they would also find that repulsive,” she said.
In a statement, animal welfare campaigners People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said: “[Lab-grown meat] will spell the end of lorries full of cows and chickens, abattoirs and factory farming. It will reduce carbon emissions, conserve water and make the food supply safer.”
The latest United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report on the future of agriculture indicates that most of the predicted growth in demand for meat from China and Brazil has already happened and many Indians are wedded to their largely vegetarian diets for cultural and culinary reasons.
Lab grown meat might turn out to be a technological solution in search of a problem.
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Frankenburger is the world’s first test-tube burger and is being served in London.
The burger is made from meat grown in a laboratory, rather than cattle raised in pastures.
And its developers hope it will show how the soaring global demand for protein can be met without the need for vast herds of cattle.
The 5oz Frankenburger, which cost £250,000 ($400,000) to produce, is made from 3,000 tiny strips of meat grown from the stem cells of a cow.
The raw meat is said to be grey with a slippery texture similar to squid or scallop.
It has been created by Professor Mark Post, from the University of Maastricht in Holland.
His research has been funded by an anonymous businessman – who may be the first to try the burger.
Prof. Mark Post told The Independent on Sunday: “Right now, we are using 70 per cent of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock. You are going to need alternatives. If we don’t do anything meat will become a luxury food and will become very expensive.”
A four-step technique is used to turn stem cells from animal flesh into a burger.
First, the stem cells are stripped from the cow’s muscle.
Frankenburger is the world’s first test-tube burger and is being served in London
Next, they are incubated in a nutrient broth until they multiply many times over, creating a sticky tissue with the consistency of an undercooked egg.
This “wasted muscle” is then bulked up through the laboratory equivalent of exercise – it is anchored to Velcro and stretched.
Finally, 3,000 strips of the lab-grown meat are minced, and, along with 200 pieces of lab-grown animal fat, formed into a burger.
The process is still lengthy, as well as expensive, but it could take just six weeks from stem cell to supermarket shelf.
Mark Post’s work is funded by the Dutch government, as well as an anonymous donation of 300,000 euros – but it remains to be seen, however, whether the pioneering development will find favor with a public that likes to think of its chops, steaks and sausages as having their roots in nature, rather than in test-tubes.
He first attempts involved mouse burgers. He then tried to grow pork in a dish, producing strips with the rubbery texture of squid or scallops, before settling on beef.
Mark Post’s burger consists of about 20,000 thin strips of cultured muscle tissue.
The cell-grown burger is produced with materials – including fetal calf serum, which used to grow the cells – that will eventually be replaced by materials not originating from animals, the New York Times reported.
In-vitro meat or cultured meat is an animal flesh product that has never been part of a complete, living animal, and is quite different from imitation meat or meat substitutes, which are vegetarian foods made from vegetable proteins like soy.
Scientists say that it is possible the meat will be sold to the public within ten years.
It also reduces the amount of feed, water and fuel needed to produce beef.
Every kilo of meat requires 10 kilos of plant feed and oil, but cultured meat would only need two.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization we will be eating twice as much meat as we do now by 2050.
Prof. Mark Post added: “It comes down to the fact that animals are very inefficient at converting vegetable protein into animal protein. This helps drive up the cost of meat.”
It is thought that the new form of meat could be acceptable to vegetarians, and animal rights organizations have already given their approval.
PETA spokesman Ben Williamson said: “We do support lab-grown meat if it means fewer animals are eaten. Anything that reduces the suffering of animals would be welcome.”
PETA also runs a competition offering a $1 million prize for the person who invents an artificial form of chicken meat.
Oxford university scientists said in 2011 that cultured beef would need 45% less energy that natural beef.
They added that it would require 99% less land than regular livestock and produce between 78 and 95% less greenhouse gas.
But, the difficulty may be persuading the public to eat an artificial product.
Prof. Mark Post said that it is possible to add fatty tissue and nutrients to it, changing the taste and making it more palatable for the public.
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