(GPDN) - Dutch scientists unveiled a hamburger made of 20,000 small strands of meat grown from a cattle’s muscle cells in front of TV and more than 200 journalists and guests in London.

The five ounce (142 g) cultured beef burger took three months and cost around £215,000 (＄330,000) to develop. Researchers indicate the technology could be a sustainable means to meet a growing demand for meat.

“I think the most people don’t realize which the current meat production is at its maximum. We need to come up with an alternative,” Prof Mark Post, of Maastricht University, the scientist behind the hamburger, said. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations meat consumption is expected to rise more than 70％ by 2050. Prof Post hopes that his research into lab-made food will solve the looming food crisis in the future.

Prof Post emphasized cultured beef does not burden the environment and will put an end to slaughter of animals. An independent study found that lab-grown beef uses 45％ less energy than the average global representative figure for farming cattle. It also produces 96％ fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires 99％ less land.  

Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, who was not involved in the research, stated “it was great pioneering science with the potential to ease environmental, health and animal welfare problems.” However, he added: “whilst the science looks achievable, the scalable manufacturing will require new game-changing innovation.”

The developers expect that cultured beef could appear on supermarket shelves within the next 10 to 20 years. A coming challenge for Prof Post and his researching team will be to work on how to get fat into the burger.

(Editing and Writing by Yu-Jhan Dai)