We got angry when the price of a Big Mac went over £2, so imagine our shock when we heard that a Dutch lab-made burger is going to cost at least £200,000 ($320,000).
Mark Post, a biologist at the University of Maastricht is hoping to grow a burger, using stem cells taken from slaughterhouse remains.
He aims to mature the cells in a petri dish with a liquid source of nutrients, sugars, proteins, fats and minerals in order to grow 3,000 strips of meat, then join these together with fat, also grown in a lab. The strips, just like real muscle, need to be exercised in order to grow; this is achieved by repeatedly stretching them between Velcro tabs.
Thus far, he's made strips up to 2.5cm long, and is confident he'll succeed in his task, despite the huge amount of manpower, technical skill and time that it will take.
Dr Post believes that current meat production is not sustainable, due to the relatively massive input of vegetable protein, and the associated land, needed to produce animal muscle - just 15% efficiency - and aims to make the burger to prove that it's possible to artificially create edible meat.
However, the burger is not expected to look too good - as the 'cultured meat' contains no blood, it will be pale, like a scallop.
Think we'll stick to having 100,000 Big Macs instead for now. We might even splash out on a Big Tasty.
[via Sky]
Image: Rex Composition
