Would you ever eat a piece of meat grown in a petri dish instead of on a farm? A scientist from the Netherlands said he's moving closer to serving up the lab-grown, state-of-the-art burger.
Using stem cells from cattle muscle tissue to create a burger in a lab, Mark Post from the University of Maastricht told a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science he aims to unveil the first sample by October.
"This is still very small pieces and too small to actually cook it right now. So we are now gearing up to produce...let's say...a golf ball size of this stuff and then cook it," said Post.
He estimates that first burger will cost $330,000 to make.
Behind it all is the search for a more environmentally friendly way to produce meat as the world's population grows. With land at a premium for the animals needed, one scientist at the conference says global meat consumption could rise 60 percent in the next forty years.
This isn't the first lab food to make headlines. Here in the U.S., an effort to produce genetically engineered salmon has hit snags as the Food and Drug Administration considers its safety.
Even if it looks the same, tastes the same and is just as safe, would people really eat beef made in a lab? It's a hard sell for some at New York's Katz's Deli where fifth generation owner Jake Dell brings in thousands of pounds of beef every week.
"Call me traditional, call me old fashioned, I think meat should come from a cow," he said.
Post said even if he had unlimited resources, it would still take 10 to 20 years to make these stem cell burgers as efficient as regular ones. For now, he says his research is being funded by a single financial backer who wants to remain anonymous.
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