The Wall Street Journal Wrote:LONDON—Maybe it could have used ketchup.

Dutch scientists on Monday unveiled a hamburger made from beef grown in a lab—not raised on a farm—that was then cooked and eaten at a West London arts and television studio.
What's for Lunch?

The 5-oz. patty cost more than $330,000 to produce. Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, funded the project.

Can science solve the world's growing demand for meat? A Dutch researcher has unveiled the world's first "test-tube" burger in London. Ken Cook, co-founder and president of the Environmental Working Group, a public-health advocacy organization, joins Lunch Break to discuss. Photo: David Parry/PA Wire.

Who would spend thousands of dollars on a burger? Google founder Sergey Brin backed a project that has created the world's first lab-made burger with $330,000. MarketWatch's Thomas Bemis explains what motivated Mr. Brin to do the investment. (Photo: Getty Images/David Parry/PA Wire)

The lab-grown burger, unveiled from under a silver warming dish, was nestled in a clear circular dish. It appeared to have the texture of raw ground beef but was given its pink hue from red beet juice and saffron. The patty, which also contained bread crumbs and a binder to hold the meat together, was then fried in sunflower oil and butter and taste-tested by a food writer and a food scientist who weren't involved in the research, at a news briefing in front of an audience of about 200.

The testers described the patty as largely having the texture and juiciness of meat, though not the intense flavor typical of beef. They said the burger needed seasoning. (Reporters weren't given the opportunity to taste the meat because there wouldn't have been enough for everyone, an event organizer said.)

The multiyear project, which cost over €250,000 and produced the single patty, was funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The idea of growing meat in the laboratory has long appealed to some scientists and environmental experts for sustainability and ethical reasons. One United Nations study estimates that 70% of agricultural land is used to raise livestock. A single cell taken from an animal can multiply into 40 billion cells in the lab. But the endeavor to produce lab-cultured meat has been expensive, and the texture and taste of real meat is difficult to replicate.

Monday's demonstration was meant to be a proof of concept, according to Mark Post, the professor of physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands who spearheaded the research. It may be another decade or two before lab-grown beef is stocked in grocery stores, he said.

The cultured beef, composed of muscle cells, was grown in the lab by harvesting a sample of muscle tissue from a cow. The tissue was then cut into small pieces and separated into fat and muscle cells. The individual muscle-specific stem cells were then grown in the shape of a ring and cut so they formed strands. These strands were layered to formed sheets of tissue to get the consistency of beef.

Growing the muscle cells that form meat is relatively easy, according to Dr. Post. Muscle cells divide and organize on their own if they are grown in the proper environment and given an anchor point, like a tendon. Still, Dr. Post and his small team of colleagues had to figure out which type of nutrient solution and which type of anchor could best support the growth of the cells.

Meat from animals also includes fat and tendons. The scientists now are trying to grow fat as well, which is thought to contribute to the distinctive taste of meat. "Taste is a very complex issue," said Dr. Post.

Lab-grown beef isn't considered a genetically modified food because the cells in the meat are derived from the same stem cells that grow into muscle cells in cows. Dr. Post said such meat should be as safe as regular beef but that it would take years to know the effect on humans.

huehuehue Wrote:I think it's just as stupid when people in the comment section bring up GMOs. Whatever complaints people have about GMOs (some valid, many not), lab grown beef is in no way genetically modified. At least, no more genetically modified than the basic selection that occurred from breeding cows over however long they've been domesticated.

Satellite Wrote:Not to mention chickens that are killed at under 1 month old. If that's not disgusting, I don't know what is.

Satellite Wrote:I know this may sound cruel, but I don't know if completely solving world hunger would be a good idea. The problem is not that we have too little food, but that we have too many mouths. World hunger is basically natures way of saying: "There's too much of you guys, start using birth control especially if you can't afford to feed even that 1 kid"

Plain fact is, people need to stop having more than 2 kids or we'll have problems more serious than anything by now, ahead of us.

IllegallySane Wrote:Now here's the daunting question: How up in arms will farmers feel about this? I don't think there are subsidies for beef, but this can cause a loss of profits for farmers that rely on selling beef to make a living.

Moonlapse Wrote:Stem cell biology is an awesome field. Still, this doesn't surprise me very much. The structure of skeletal muscle on the gross anatomical level isn't as complex as other structures. I would really be impressed if they grew an arm or an eyeball, but that's because I'm more biased to medical applications.

Still awesome, though. Thanks for sharing this.

Moonlapse Wrote:Stem cell biology is an awesome field. Still, this doesn't surprise me very much. The structure of skeletal muscle on the gross anatomical level isn't as complex as other structures. I would really be impressed if they grew an arm or an eyeball, but that's because I'm more biased to medical applications.

Still awesome, though. Thanks for sharing this.

hadriel Wrote:Organ culture isn't new.

Hadriel