Reuters reports that "the world's first laboratory-grown beef burger was flipped out of a petri dish and into a frying pan on Monday, with food tasters declaring it tasted 'close to meat' ... Resembling a standard circular-shaped red meat patty, it was created by knitting together 20,000 strands of laboratory-grown protein, combined with other ingredients normally used in burgers, such as salt, breadcrumbs and egg powder. Red beet juice and saffron were added to give it colour."
The cost of the burger: about $332,000 (US).
While food critics were apparently "muted" in their praise of the burger's taste, the aim of the project is "to show the world that in the future meat will not necessarily have to come from the environmentally and economically costly rearing and slaughtering of millions of animals."
While it is believed that the project may be scalable to the point that it could provide burgers to people around the world, it also is expected that it could take 20 years to reach that point.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected that meat production is expected to be outstripped by meat demand over the next decade, which has led scientists to seek alternatives to traditional beef production.
The cost of the burger: about $332,000 (US).
While food critics were apparently "muted" in their praise of the burger's taste, the aim of the project is "to show the world that in the future meat will not necessarily have to come from the environmentally and economically costly rearing and slaughtering of millions of animals."
While it is believed that the project may be scalable to the point that it could provide burgers to people around the world, it also is expected that it could take 20 years to reach that point.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected that meat production is expected to be outstripped by meat demand over the next decade, which has led scientists to seek alternatives to traditional beef production.
- KC's View:
- I have no problem with a lab-grown burger ... as long as it is labeled as such.
