Taste test: World's first test-tube burger revealed in London

ITN

Published on Aug 5, 2013

 

The world's first test-tube burger has been revealed in London and tasted by two lucky volunteers who seemed to quite like it! Scientist-turned-chef Professor Mark Post produced the burger from 20,000 tiny strips of meat grown from cow stem cells. The lab-grown 5oz (142g) patty cost £250,000 to produce was fried in a little sunflower oil and butter by leading chef Richard McGeown.

Nutritional scientist Hanni Rutzler said the burger tasted "close to meat" but that it was "not that juicy". Report by Ashley Fudge.

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World's first synthetic hamburger gets full marks for 'mouth feel'

Google's Sergey Brin bankrolled world's first synthetic beef hamburger

The billionaire co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, said he invested €250,000 in the technology for animal welfare reasons

• Alok Jha, science correspondent
• theguardian.com, Monday 5 August 2013 07.29 EDT

Link to video: Google burger: Sergey Brin explains why he funded world's first lab-grown beef hamburger

The man who has bankrolled the production of the world's first lab-grown hamburger has been revealed as Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The internet entrepreneur has backed the project to the tune of €250,000 (£215,000), allowing scientists to grow enough meat in the lab to create a burger – as a proof of concept – that will be cooked and eaten in London on Monday.
Brin, a computer scientist who set up Google with university colleague Larry Page, is one of the wealthiest men in the world and has a history of backing projects that sound as though they belong in science fiction movies.
The pair have teamed up with film director James Cameron and others to investigate mining asteroids, and Brin is an investor in the private spaceflight company Space Adventures, which is selling $100m (£65m) trips to the moon. Google is also developing driverless cars and its philanthropic arm, Google.org, has invested in green energy projects.
"It's really just proof of concept right now, we're trying to create the first cultured beef hamburger," said Brin in a film to mark the tasting event in London. "From there I'm optimistic that we can really scale by leaps and bounds."
The synthetic meat hamburger will be cooked and eaten at an event this afternoon. Among the tasters will be the Chicago-based author of Taste of Tomorrow, Josh Schonwald, and an Austrian food trends researcher, Hanni Rützler of the Future Food Studio.
Brin said that he was moved to invest in the technology for animal welfare reasons. People had an erroneous image of modern meat production, he said, imagining "pristine farms" with just a few animals in them. "When you see how these cows are treated, it's certainly something I'm not comfortable with."


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