A lab-grown burger was tried for the first time by food critics on Monday and it received less-than stellar reviews.
At a news conference in London on Monday, the world's first lab-grown burger was cooked and eaten. The burger was developed by scientists who took cells from a cow and turned them into strips of muscle that they turned into a patty at a lab in the Netherlands. About 20,000 strips were used to make the 5-ounce burger. Researchers say this technology could be a way to meet a high demand for meat; however critics said it wasn't too great, BBC reports.
The burger was cooked by chef Richard McGeown, from Cornwall and was presented on a plate with a bun, lettuce and tomato slices. Mark Post, the Dutch researcher who created the hamburger at the University of Maastricht was in attendance to try the product. Post says the technology could provide high-quality protein for the growing population, while avoiding environmental and animal-welfare issues.
Food critics such as Hanni Ruetzler and Josh Schonwald got a first taste of the lab-grown burger, which contained no fat or salt. Both said it lacked flavor and was dry.
"I was expecting the texture to be more soft... there is quite some intense taste; it's close to meat, but it's not that juicy. The consistency is perfect, but I miss salt and pepper," Ruetzler said. "This is meat to me. It's not falling apart."
Schonwald, a food critic from Chicago said, "The mouthfeel is like meat. I miss the fat, there's a leanness to it, but the general bite feels like a hamburger. What was consistently different was flavour."
Post says that it will take at least 10 years before the burger will be commercially viable as much more research needs to be done. He says that if production was scaled up, the lab-grown beef could cost more than $30 a pound.
The burger used for testing was part of a two-year project which cost $325,000. It was revealed on Monday that one of the backers in Sergey Brin, a founder of Google. Post says Brin paid for the project because "he basically shares the same concerns about the sustainability of meat production and animal welfare."
Post, who also sampled the burger, said that he was "very happy" after tasting it, but admits that the lack of fat is an issue, the New York Times reports. "We're working on that," he said. "I think it's a very good start. It was to mostly prove that we could do this."
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