The world’s first lab grown burger was cooked and eaten at a news conference in London on Monday.
It was tasted by food critics Hanni Ruetzler and Josh Schonwald who awarded it top marks for texture and consistency but admitted that the flavour was lacking.
Ruetzler, who ate the burger without the condiments or bun said, “It’s close to meat, but it’s not that juicy. The consistency is perfect, but I miss salt and pepper.”
Schonwald said, “I miss the fat, but the general bite feels like a hamburger.”
The Dutch scientist behind the burger, Professor Mark Post of Maastricht wasn’t too put out by the reviews, saying it was a good start.
Post and his team in the Netherlands spent 5 years developing the burger.
The shoulder muscle cells of two organically raised cows were extracted and placed into a nutrient solution. The solution helped develop the cells into muscle tissue which grew into small strands of meat. It took 20,000 strands to make a single 5 ounce patty. Red beet juice and saffron were added to the burger to make it look more meat-like.
Post and his team hopes that producing meat in labs will someday help feed the world. “This burger took 3 months, which is faster than [raising] a cow. I am confident we can scale this up and the price will reduce to a point where it will appear in supermarkets. It will take us 10 to 20 years to get it into the supermarket,” Post said.
The taste would not pose a problem as the scientists are fairly confident they can improve the flavour. Stig Omholt, director of biotechnology at the Norwegian University says, “Taste is the least important problem since this could be controlled by letting some of the cells stem develop into fat cells.” Omholt, who was not involved in the project, pointed out that adding fat to the burgers this way would probably be healthier.
Alternative ways of producing meat are being explored to satisfy the growing demand without exhausting resources. Producing cultured meat has less of an impact on the environment. An independent study showed that lab grown meat uses 45% less energy, produces 96% fewer gas emission and requires only 1% of the land currently used to raise livestock. It also eliminates the need to slaughter animals.
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, who funded the $330,000 project, said he was motivated to do so out of concern for animal welfare.
PETA, the animals rights group has also indicated their support for this new venture. "As long as there's anybody who's willing to kill a chicken, a cow or a pig to make their meal, we are all for this," said Ingrid Newkirk, the president and co-founder of PETA. “There will be health benefits for human beings because that meat will be clean; it’s not raised on a dirty floor in a feedlot. It’s the beginning of the end of the shameful era of conventional meat production. There couldn’t be a more glorious development,” she said.
While some vegetarians may find cultured meat solution appealing, others find it hard to get over the “yuck” factor. Cultured meat has already been dubbed “Fraken-meat” or “schmeat”.
Alternative meat is still a work in progress. Helen Breewood, a member of Post’s team, is currently trying to make lab grown meat look red. She added, “A lot of people would 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.”
The verdict is still out on the nutritional benefits of cultured meat. Furthermore, data proving that the lab meat is safe will be required before the product can make it to the market.