Test-tube burger: Something to chew on

Coming soon: The world's first test-tube hamburger, say scientists.

Coming soon: The world's first test-tube hamburger, say scientists.

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A team at Maastricht University in the Netherlands claims that the first such laboratory-made burger could be a year away — it will have meat grown from stem cells, paving the way for eating meat without animals being slaughtered.

The scientists are developing the burger grown from 10,000 stem cells extracted from cattle, which are then left in the laboratory to multiply more than a billion times to produce muscle tissue similar to beef.

The product is called “in vitro” meat. The world's meat consumption is expected to double by 2050 as the population increases. And, the scientists predict over the next few decades the global population will increase so quickly that there won't be enough livestock to feed all.

Prof Mark Post, who is leading the team, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, “I don’t see any way you could rely on old-fashioned livestock in the coming decades. In vitro meat will be the only choice left.