$325,000 in vitro burger ‘tastes reasonably good’

A scientist has grown a burger in a lab.

The future is here.

Dr. Mark Post has grown a 5-ounce hamburger in his laboratory at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The total cost? A whopping $325,000.

A private donor covered the costs.

"The hamburger, assembled from tiny bits of beef muscle tissue grown in a laboratory and to be cooked and eaten at an event in London, perhaps in a few weeks, is meant to show the world — including potential sources of research funds — that so-called in vitro meat, or cultured meat, is a reality," writes Henry Fountain for New York Times.

Engadget's Melissa Grey summarizes the complicated meat-growing process:

"Each pricey patty begins its life as cells sourced from the necks of slaughterhouse cows, which are then developed in a growth serum comprised of fetal calf stem cells. After three weeks, those cells divide into a strip of meat, about half an inch long," she writes.

Also see: McDonald's hamburger shows no signs of mould after 14 years

"Combine about 20,000 of those tissue strips and you've got yourself a burger. If that doesn't get your taste buds tingling, we don't know what will."

Post insists his test-tube burger, which contains considerably less fat that a traditional beef burger, "tastes reasonably good." At the upcoming burger-unveiling event in London, he'll season his meat with just salt and pepper.

Arguments in favour of lab-created meat — or "shmeat," as in "meat, shmeat," as Jezebel calls it — often address animal welfare and environmental issues.

"Although shmeat doesn't eliminate the need for cattle completely, it could help with the environmental issues surrounding meat, food safety and maybe even food shortages. And who knows what else?

A company called Modern Meadow is also working on some schmeat, as well as grown-in-a-lab leather. What if vegetarians and vegans could buy and consume animal-based products that were made without actually harming animals. Would they?" writes Jezebel's Dodai Stewart.

Also see: The Perfect Bite: Which fast food burger is the healthiest?

Post says he understands the world will always need cattle. He just hopes his "proof of concept" lab-made meat — which he acknowledges is in its early stages and faces major hurdles ahead — will eventually reduce the global need for livestock.

"If we can reduce the global herd a millionfold, then I'm happy. I don't need to reduce it a billionfold," he tells the New York Times.

"I'm not by nature a very passionate guy," he adds. "But I feel strongly that this could have a major impact on society in general. And that’s a big motivator."

Lab-grown meat still has a long way to go before we'll see it on grocery store shelves. So don't expect to be serving up lab-grown burgers at your backyard barbecues anytime soon. (Maybe in 20 years. Maybe.)

In the meantime, make your own veggie burgers (that don't taste like cardboard). Or try these.

Would you try a lab-grown burger?