cultured beef: first lab-grown burger is tasted

cultured beef: first lab-grown burger is tasted
photo: david parry / PA wire

the first lab-grown burger has been presented by professor mark post of maastricht university, who began the in vitro meat project in 2008, in trying to create edible flesh from stem cells–post’s research and experimentation is a continuation of the 2004 study initiated by 86-year-old entrpreneur willem van eelen, who was fascinated in the possibilities of growing meat.

the process involves the extraction of muscle stem cells from animals such as pigs, chickens, and in this case cows, which are obtained from fresh pieces of their tissue through biopsy. these are then naturally multiplied, supplemented by calf serum to help encourage their development, ‘bulking them up’ into solid bundles. as the muscle cells continue to naturally generate themselves, they need to continuously be supplied with nutrients. a soluble sugar polymer is used to obtain larger slices of meat. taste and texture are of course important in making the tissue edible, so factors such as protein composition and fat tissue are rendered in order that the resulting specimen has the desired consistency.

at a london event today, chef richard mcgeown cooked up two burgers made from cultured beef, which were subsequently tasted.

the lab-grown beef burger patty waiting to be cooked
photo: david parry / PA wire

the ‘cultured beef‘ project is one of the first steps into finding a sustainable solution to the production and consumption of meat, particularly in light of our world’s food shortages. it is estimated that the global demand for meat will increase by more than two-thirds. 20,000 small strands of culture are combined to create one normal sized hamburger, and a few cells from a single cow can ultimately result in the lab generation of 10 tons of meat.

the burger made from cultured beef was cooked by chef richard mcgeown
photo: david parry / PA wire