In vitro hamburgers are still years away from commercial production, but if this meat product is going to become a success, it will need to overcome an image problem.
On Sunday, two volunteers taste-tested the world鈥檚 first cultured beef burger, the result of five years of work by scientist Mark Post of Holland鈥檚 Maastricht University. It cost about $330,000 to develop.
The volunteer tasters said the synthetic burger, fried up by a British chef, was acceptable, with one noting it was 鈥渃lose to meat,鈥� and the other admitting 鈥渋t feels like meat.鈥�
Setting aside comparisons to food-court meals in big-city airports, it鈥檚 encouraging to hear of the experiment鈥檚 progress. However, the method of production is a little less than appetizing. Post鈥檚 team used myosatellite stem cells and fetal calf serum to make the cultured meat, with a dash of beet juice to give it a pink colour.
Thanks, but we prefer a good old-fashioned hot dog made from familiar ingredients, which, according to the package label, include beef and pork, mechanically separated turkey, water, corn syrup, less than two per cent salt, potassium lactate, partially hydrolyzed beef stock, sodium phosphates, flavourings, sodium diacetate, ascorbic acid, sodium nitrite and extracts of paprika.
Besides, a burger that took five years to make and cost $330,000 should have at least come with an order of fries.
