Apr 27, 2012
— read in fullHow to grow a hamburger
Feb 20, 2012
Scientists are one step closer to growing meat in the laboratory. Would you eat a petri dish burger?
There are lots of reasons to try to grow synthetic meat. It would mean slaughtering fewer animals and could sidestep the environmental problems with farming animals. Cows convert only 15% of the energy they consume into meat, and produce large quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.
That’s why an anonymous donor has funded Dr Mark Post at Maastricht University to try and grow a burger. He has successfully grown a small piece of meat from cow stem cells, using an electric current to stimulate growth.
Dr Post says that the meat will be bland at first, as more research will be required to find out what gives meat its flavour and change the process accordingly. But at least it will be cooked to perfection: he hopes to have it cooked by Heston Blumenthal for a celebrity tasting later in the year.
Although it has cost over £200,000 to get this far, Dr Post says that the method could be ready for mass production in 10 to 20 years.
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