Heston Blumenthal to prepare world’s first beefburger grown in a lab

Published on Monday 20 February 2012 00:00

CELEBRITY chef Heston Blumenthal is famous for his scientific approach to cooking.

But the beefburger he could be serving in eight months will surpass even his most outlandish efforts.

The “test-tube burger” will be the first beef patty ever created in the laboratory.

Its price tag – 250,000 euros (£207,535) – reflects just how exclusive this culinary experience will be.

The burger’s true “chef” is Dutch stem cell scientist Dr Mark Post, from the University of Maastricht.

After experiments that progressed from mouse meat to pork, he is confident that this year he will be ready to produce an artificial burger that looks, feels and tastes like the real thing.

The plan is for Blumenthal to cook it for a mystery guest, to be chosen by the research project’s anonymous funder.

The meat will have been grown from bovine muscle and fat stem cells cultured in Dr Post’s laboratory.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Canada, Dr Post said: “In October we’re going to provide a proof-of-concept showing that, out of stem cells, we can make a product that looks like and feels and hopefully tastes like meat.

Right now Dr Post is still working with unappetising half-millimetre thick strips of lab-grown meat that are pinky-yellow in colour.

But he is confident that he will produce a burger virtually indistinguishable from one bought in the high street.

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