frankenburger Test Tube Meat To Be Served: The Future Of Meat?

Physiologist to Serve Up In Vitro Meat as “Frankenburger”

Physiologist Mark Post of Holland’s Maastricht University will soon be getting his dream come true: showing the world that test tube created meat is viable. The meat he’ll be serving up in the form of a burger contains no fat because it was grown from stem cells. The press have dubbed the burger: the Frankenburger.

As per Post, the cost of creating the five ounce patty is currently $300,000 USD which makes it the most expensive burger ever served. The patty will be served before a select group of guests at an upscale West London venue, but no official word has been given regarding the location and the guest list.

Post hopes that this will break down obstacles that people have towards in vitro meat.

He believes that with the proper funding and public education, in vitro meat will become widely available to the public.

“Let’s make a proof of concept, and change the discussion from ‘this is never going to work’ to, ‘well, we actually showed that it works, but now we need to get funding and work on it,’” Post told the Times last fall, adding that the meat, despite the fact that it doesn’t have any fat engineered into it, “tastes reasonably good.”

While there is an obvious gag reflex factor attached to in vitro meat, one thing remains advantageous to it: no animal is killed. In 2011, the New Yorker’s Michael Specter discussed this very point that animals killed for human consumption live under poor conditions and die terrible deaths. No such thing occurs with in vitro meat.

“There is something inherently creepy about [growing meat in labs],” Specter told NPR’s Terry Gross at the time. “But there is something more inherently creepy about the way we deal with the animals that we eat. … They live a horrible life, and they often die quite cruelly. So the idea of being able to eliminate some of that is extremely exciting for a lot of people.”

Despite the obstacles, Post is confident that lab-grown meat is in our future.

“I see the major hurdles, probably better than anybody else,” he told the Times. “But you’ve got to have faith in technological advances, that they will be solved.”

Would you eat an in vitro hamburger?

On The Web:
‘Frankenburger’ Made With Test-Tube Meat In Lab To Be Served For First Time
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/frankenburger-test-tube-meat-served-first-time_n_3678581.html