The world's first "test tube" hamburger was served today in London by Maastricht University professor Mark Post, part of a project aimed at demonstrating that growing meat in laboratories is a potential means of reducing the environmental impact of mankind's increasing consumption of meat.

Post, head of physiology at the university, has spent the past six years working on turning stem cells into meat. His first lab-grown hamburger patty weights 142 grams is part of a project that cost €250,000.

To make the burger, Post's team took stem cells from a cow biopsy and incubated them in a nutrient-rich broth, where they multiplied. Then the cells were attached to "anchor points" in a petri dish, where they self-organised into pieces of muscle. Cell growth was stimulated by means of electric shocks. The resulting muscle was then minced and combined with lab-grown animal fat. Salt, egg powder, and bread crumbs were added to turn the meat into a burger. Beetroot juice and saffron were used to make it the color of beef.

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