News First hamburger made of test tube-grown beef to be served this week

[tom_mai78101]

A week tomorrow, at an exclusive west London venue, the most expensive beefburger in history will be nervously cooked and served before an invited audience. Costing somewhere in the region of £250,000, the 5oz burger will be composed of synthetic meat, grown in a laboratory from the stem cells of a slaughtered cow.

The scientist behind the "in vitro" burger believes synthetic meat could help to save the world from the growing consumer demand for beef, lamb, pork and chicken. The future appetite for beef alone, for instance, could easily lead to the conversion of much of the world's remaining forests to barren, manicured pastures by the end of this century.

The precious patty will be made of some 3,000 strips of artificial beef, each the size of a rice grain, grown from bovine stem cells cultured in the laboratory. Scientists believe the public demonstration will be "proof of principle", possibly leading to artificial meat being sold in supermarkets within five to 10 years.

Stem cells taken from just one animal could, in theory, be used to make a million times more meat than could be butchered from a single beef carcass. The reduction in the need for land, water and feed, as well as the decrease in greenhouse gases and other environmental pollutants, would change the environmental footprint of meat eating.

Special report: 'In vitro' beef - it's the meat of the future

Asked the cost of a regular beefburger, you might guess around £3... with fries. But, next week, a select group will be fed a £250,000 patty. What's the difference? This one was grown in a laboratory – from a cow's stem cells

www.independent.co.uk

 

[FireCat]

Hmm Cost about $325,000 Oh, lol

 

[tom_mai78101]

Hmm Cost about $325,000 Oh, lol

$384,575 土 20% to be exact.

 

[FireCat]

$384,575 土 20% to be exact.

LOL But still "it cost hell a lot"

 

[KMilz]

I wonder what they think is gonna happen in the next 5-10 years that'd make the cost of this drop to 1/100,000th of its current price so that it'd actually be marketable.

 

[Accname]

I wonder what they think is gonna happen in the next 5-10 years that'd make the cost of this drop to 1/100,000th of its current price so that it'd actually be marketable.

Mass production?

Anything that is done for the first time ever and handcrafted piece by piece is expensive.

 

[KMilz]

Yeah, that's what they're talking about doing, I'm just wondering what differences they expect to be making in that time frame that will bring the cost down by that sort of margin. It just doesn't seem realistic by the numbers, though I don't know anything really about the process so I guess it's possible. Just interested in how they might do it.

 

[Accname]

I think the biggest problem is a fix cost for the machinery and developement.
You see, one burger might cost them $384,575; but 1000 burgers might cost them just $20 more then that. Because $384,300 are the cost for the machines, the laboratory, the scientists and other employees.
Thats just a guess though; but I think its a good guess.

 

[FireCat]

It won't be cheap! That's for sure!

"Eventually, my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals which you keep in stock in the world. You basically kill animals and take all the stem cells from them, so you would still need animals for this technology," Professor Post said.

Sounds kinda awful! Seems like a extinction plan for the stock of animals. And nothing else.
Just let them be and alive!

 

[Accname]

We kill them regularily and their "live" is worse then death right now; I would say this is a better treatment then anything else we ever did.

 

[FireCat]

It depends where they live, Btw: not all farmers are bad.

 

[Accname]

It depends where they live, Btw: not all farmers are bad.

Never said anybody is bad. Just said that cattle and other livestock have a pitiful existence at the moment.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

Most of the stuff we eat was raised to be eaten. I'd rather not exist at all than exist for the sake of someone else.

 

[KMilz]

This would be perfect for adventurous tasters. Along with people, there are a number of endangered species I'd like to feast upon that I don't really have the opportunity to try. Maybe one day I'll be able to.

 

[camelCase]

Sigh, I volunteer as taste bud tribute.

 

[iPeez]

Sigh, I volunteer as taste bud tribute.

Dont, just take a rifle and shoot a moose, real beef burger right there. fuck chemical food and out-watered meat and all the shit they serve us these days. 100 years back they had real food, and bad infrastructure / health care. Now it is the other way around.

 

[The Helper]

Update

'At least it tastes of meat!': World's first test-tube artificial beef 'Googleburger' gets GOOD review as it's eaten for the first time

It may look like something you’d chuck on the barbecue without a second thought, but this round of meat costs a very beefy £250,000 — as the world’s first test-tube burger.

After the patty was lightly fried in a little butter and sunflower oil yesterday, the two volunteers chosen to taste it in front of a live audience were hardly effusive, though.

‘I was expecting the texture to be more soft,’ said Austrian food researcher Hanni Rutzler, taking 27 chews before being able to swallow a mouthful. ‘It’s close to meat — it’s not that juicy.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ets-GOOD-review-eaten-time.html#ixzz2b9wtVwDn

 

[KMilz]

What blows my mind is that they mixed the 'beef' with egg powder, breadcrumbs and saffron or some nonsense, too. That isn't a burger, that's a meatloaf sandwich. You'd think if they were going to forgo the bun and condiments to help detect the true flavor of the 'beef', then they'd have a simple beef burger with maybe just a touch of salt to help bring out its flavor.

 

[FireCat]

Around 20,000 meat strands are needed to make one 5oz (142g) burger.