Test-Tube meat could replace farm grown beef

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Carlos Vasquez monitors ground beef as it passes through a machine that makes hamburger patties at a meat packing and distribution facility  in San Francisco, California.  (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Posted: 02/21/2012

Would you ever eat a piece of meat grown in a Petri dish instead of on a farm?

A scientist from the Netherlands said he's moving closer to serving up the lab-grown, state-of-the-art burger.

A Dutch scientist is using stem cells from cattle muscle tissue to create a burger in a lab.

And he told a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science he aims to unveil the first one by October.

The scientist estimates the first burger will cost $330,000 to make.

Behind it all is the search for a more environmentally friendly way to produce meat as the world's population grows.

With land at a premium for the animals needed, one scientist at the conference says global meat consumption could rise 60 percent in the next forty years.

Here in the U.S., an effort to produce genetically engineered salmon has hit snags as the Food and Drug Administration considers its safety.  

Even if it looks the same, tastes the same and is just as safe, would people really eat beef made in a lab?

It's a hard sell for some at New York's Katz’s deli where fifth generation owner Jake Dell brings in thousands of pounds of beef every week.

The scientist says even if he had unlimited resources, it would still take 10 to 20 years to make these stem cell burgers as efficient as regular ones.

For now, he says his research is being funded by a single financial backer who wants to remain anonymous. 

 

™ & © 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

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