By generating strips of meat from stem cells, researchers believe they can create a product that is identical to a real burger. The process of culturing the artificial meat in the lab is so labourious that the finished product, expected to arrive in eight months’ time, will cost about £220,000. But researchers expect that after producing their first patty they will be able to scale up the process to create affordable artificial meat products. Mass-producing beef, pork, chicken and lamb in the lab could satisfy the growing global demand for meat and dramatically reduce the harm that farming does to the environment. Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands had grown small strips of muscle tissue from cow cells and calf serum, bringing the first artificial burger a step closer. The work is being financed by anonymous and extremely wealthy benefactor who Prof Post claims is a household name with a reputation for “turning everything into gold”. Prof Post plans to ask Heston Blumenthal to cook the meat, and the anonymous financer will decide who to invite to eat it.
