Engineering the $325,000 Burger

Dr. Mark Post hopes to bring the dream of cultured meat one step closer to reality when he unveils his high tech hamburger in London. The five ounce burger is composed of 20,000 strips of beef muscle tissue grown in a laboratory at a cost of $325,000 (provided by an anonymous donor.) From the article: "The hamburger, assembled from tiny bits of beef muscle tissue grown in a laboratory and to be cooked and eaten at an event in London, perhaps in a few weeks, is meant to show the world — including potential sources of research funds — that so-called in-Vitro meat, or cultured meat, is a reality."

Comments

Re:I hope

[ArcadeMan]

Some people don't eat meat and animal products for health reasons, others for ethical reasons. So I think this will split the vegetarians and vegans into four groups:
- health issues vegetarian
- health issues vegan
- ethical vegetarian
- ethical vegan

Reminds me of an old joke

[symbolset]

Q: How can you know why somebody is a vegan?

A: Don't worry. He'll tell you.

Re:I hope

[maxwell demon]

Of course there are also the people who think that any food that has even just come close to a lab is the devil. That group might have a considerable (but not complete) overlap with the ethical vegetarians/vegans.

Re:At $325K a burger that is not reality

[NettiWelho]

Yeah, just because the first computer took millions to build and maintain didn't make it real.

Re:I dont want to live on this planet anymore

[dingen]

Why are you so negative about lab grown meat? No more animal suffering, a lot less impact on the environment, what's not to like?

Re:The dream? Really?

[50000BTU_barbecue]

So, you only eat meat from wild Aurochs you caught yourself? How is modern agri-business farming not cultured? From selectively breeding only the "best" animals, to force-growing them with anti-biotics and raising them in CAFO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAFO

Yup, not cultured at all.