Dutch researchers developing laboratory-grown hamburgers say they are confident their product will be on the market in five years.
The first prototype of the burger, which funded by Google cofounder Sergey Brin and eaten in London in 2013, cost 215,000 pounds ($330,000) to produce. But according to BBC News, scientists based at Maastricht University in the Netherlands say they hope to improve the taste and quality of the in vitro meat—and to make it affordable.
"I feel extremely excited about the prospect of this product being on sale," Paul Verstrate, who has teamed up with the researchers to start the Mosa Meat business, told BBC News. "And I am confident that when it is offered as an alternative to meat that increasing numbers of people will find it hard not to buy our product for ethical reasons."
The hamburger, which is cultured from cattle stem cells, heralds the first step in what the creator, Professor Mark Post, says is a viable remedy for the global food shortage and the impact food production has on the environment.
The meat is formed by stitching together thousands of strands of lab-cultured protein derived from stem cells taken from cows. Manufacturers also hope the meat can reduce cruelty to animals, which is often associated with meat production.
Post, a vascular biologist, first showcased his burger in London in 2013, when he the Guardian, "Cows are very inefficient, they require 100g of vegetable protein to produce only 15 grams of edible animal protein."
He added: "We need to feed the cows a lot so that we can feed ourselves. We lose a lot of food that way. [With cultured meat] we can make it more efficient because we have all the variables under control. We don't need to kill the cow and it doesn't [produce] any methane."
Mosa Meat is due to employ 25 scientists, lab technicians and managers as part of the project to bring mass produced in vitro meat to market. The company also proposes using 3-D printing technology to make steaks and chops, reports BBC News.
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