World’s first lab-grown burger unveiled
Scientists have created the world’s first lab-grown burger as part of efforts to find sustainable ways to meet the growing demand for meat.
Taking stem cells from a slaughtered cow, researchers in the Netherlands grew strips of muscle tissue and combined them to make a patty.
Scientists hope the synthetic burger will help reduce the environmental footprint of meat by making meat production more efficient than rearing animals.
An independent study found that lab-grown beef uses 45% less energy than the average energy needed to farm cattle.
It also produces 96% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires 99% less land and 96% less water.
Unveiling the burger in London on Monday (5 August), Mark Post, a professor at Maastricht University, the scientists behind the burger, said the burger was a “very good start”.
While there was still much work to be done to develop the process, synthetic meat could be on supermarket shelves within five to 10 years, researchers added.
The development would not necessarily spell the end for livestock farming though, Prof Post said.
“My vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals which you keep in stock in the world,” he said in an interview with the Independent on Sunday in 2012.
“You basically kill animals and take all the stem cells from them, so you would still need animals for this technology.
“Right now, we are using 70% of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock. You are going to need alternatives.
“If we don’t do anything, meat will become a luxury food and will become very expensive.”
Currently scientists are only able to produce small pieces of meat in a laboratory.
Starting with stem cells from cow muscle tissue, the cells are cultured with nutrients and growth chemicals.
After three weeks there are more than one million stem cells which are put into smaller dishes where they grow into small strips of muscle a centimetre long.
These are collected and frozen into pellets and then compacted into a patty before being cooked.
The meat is initially white in colour but work is being done to add colouring to make it look natural.
Emma Hockridge, head of policy at the Soil Association said: “This new technology is interesting but it is also important to consider the wider issues surrounding such a development, such as the benefits that grazing animals bring to the beauty and sustainability of our countryside, the importance of healthy and sustainable diets and access to food.
“There are also many simpler solutions to feeding our growing population available to us now including agroecological systems such as organic farming which works with nature to obtain good yields with far lower inputs and producing food with high animal welfare, lower pollution, and with more wildlife and jobs on farms.
“It is unlikely that lab-grown meat would ever replace meat production in the UK and there is still a long way to go before these products are anywhere near, if ever being commercially viable.”
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