Just about everyone loves a good burger. People are so burger crazy that keeping up the demand for all that beef has led to the destruction of the rain forest and pollution problems from cow flatulence. Burgers of the future though might not come from the ranch, but instead originate in the science lab.
That’s right, in-vitro lab grown burgers are now a reality. Mmmmm, gross? Dr. Mark Post has been working on growing edible meat in the lab since 2008 and this month presented the first lab grown beef patty in London. To create this new wonder of science, muscle stem cells were taken from a cow’s shoulder and grown in calf serum. 20,000 cells later they were assembled into a burger patty with bread crumbs, egg and colored with beet juice and saffron.
After being unveiled in a petri dish (very appetizing), the burger was cooked up and fed to two volunteers for taste testing. Austrian food futurist Hanni Rützle described the experience.
“There is quite some intense taste. It is close to meat; it is not that juicy. I missed salt and pepper. More than I expected of the the structure, it’s not falling apart.”
Just think, in a few short years your friends at the Labor Day cookout might be asking which lab your burgers were grown in.
Via Popsci