# Scientists to cook world's first burger made with synthetic beef **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285 "2013-08-03T23:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/21 "2013-08-04T01:58:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One might also consider the lump of biomass growing in the vat to itself be a living animal, though That would be a huuuuuge stretch. > [@](#): > > The kosher question would also depend on the precise wording of the slaughter provisions in the Torah. If, for instance, the Law says that meat must come from an animal slaughtered in a particular way, then vat meat would not be kosher, but if it says that it must not come from an animal slaughtered in any way other than the prescribed way, then it might be. Deut 12:21 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/22 "2013-08-04T02:20:26Z")
Anybody else hearing Bill Cosby’s “Chicken Heart” sketch running through their heads? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/23 "2013-08-04T02:38:51Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I wonder whether there are any more scholarly articles out there detailing what they did to make the beef? It’s surprisingly simple. First, you pulverize a hundred thousand cattle… ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/24 "2013-08-04T03:04:53Z")
The linked article says that they use red beet juice (red) and saffron (yellow) “to bring out the natural color.” Would that make it Soylent Orange? Maybe they make it Soylent Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/25 "2013-08-04T05:37:37Z")
This is how superheroes are created…and supervillains! 😮 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/26 "2013-08-04T12:16:22Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Deut 12:21 That seems rather unhelpful, since it all it says is that you may slaughter them. What we need is where it says what type of livestock you are allowed to slaughter. I’d think that the scripture on limb of the living and/or the scripture on crops would be more useful, anyways. The former is about how it is started, and the latter is the about how it is grown. It’s not even a remotely sentient creature–more like a plant or fungus. Even insects are more sentient than this living chunk of meat. As for it being vegan–I can’t see how. Veganism doesn’t allow you to eat any part of an animal, even if it doesn’t die in the process. Nor does it let you eat things made from said part. The only thing that would work for veganism would be artificially produced meat–perhaps made from plants or a fungus. I seem to remember something like that being worked on, using chemicals to infuse a fungus with meat-like flavors. I can’t remember if they were also trying to bioengineer the fungus as well. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/27 "2013-08-04T12:39:47Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > A != (!(!A))? I do not understand. He’s asking whether the rules are inclusive or exclusive. Is it a list of things you can eat or is it a list of things you can’t eat? Let’s say you were given restrictions on which letters you were allowed to use in your next post. If I tell you you can only use ABCDEFGHIJKLM, then that’s all you can use. But if I tell you you can’t use NOPQRSTUVWXYZ, you could get away with using, say, ÀβÇÐÊƑĞḪĪĴĶĻℳ. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/28 "2013-08-04T13:29:52Z")
Reminds me off the episode of Better Off Ted ["Better Off Ted" Heroes (TV Episode 2009) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1402241/) “It tastes depressed” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/29 "2013-08-04T15:49:28Z")
[Video report.](http://www.newslook.com/videos/595629-would-you-pay-300k-for-a-frankenburger) Points off for the newscaster referring to it as a ‘frankenburger’. > [@BigT](#): > > He’s asking whether the rules are inclusive or exclusive. Is it a list of things you can eat or is it a list of things you can’t eat? > > Let’s say you were given restrictions on which letters you were allowed to use in your next post. If I tell you you can only use ABCDEFGHIJKLM, then that’s all you can use. But if I tell you you can’t use NOPQRSTUVWXYZ, you could get away with using, say, ÀβÇÐÊƑĞḪĪĴĶĻℳ. Ţĥäŧ ṁåkèŝ s̄éñṣĕ. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/30 "2013-08-04T16:24:21Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > They didn’t mention that the burger cost a couple of million dollars. Nope, only [$380,000](http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17918/20130730/world-first-test-tube-burger-in-vitro-meat-lab-grown-burger.htm). However, ideally, the prices will drop radically over the next few decades. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/31 "2013-08-04T16:34:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Nope, only [$380,000](http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17918/20130730/world-first-test-tube-burger-in-vitro-meat-lab-grown-burger.htm). > > However, ideally, the prices will drop radically over the next few decades. Yes, when it gets to $1000, I will be all over it. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/32 "2013-08-04T16:39:15Z")
It grows in a bath of bovine fetus serum. Yum. That comes from regular old commercial slaughterhouses. > [@](#): > > Fetal bovine serum is a by-product of the meat industry. Fetal bovine serum, as with the vast majority of animal serum used in cell culture, is produced from blood collected at commercial slaughterhouses from cattle bred to supply meat destined for human consumption. > The first stage of the production process for fetal bovine serum is the harvesting of blood from the bovine fetus after the fetus is removed from the slaughtered cow. The blood is collected aseptically into a sterile container or blood bag and then allowed to clot. The normal method of collection is cardiac puncture, where they take a needle and insert in between the ribcage into the heart. This minimizes “the danger of serum contamination with micro-organisms from the fetus itself, and the environment”.[1] It is then centrifuged to remove the fibrin clot and the remaining blood cells from the clear yellow (straw) colored serum. The serum is frozen prior to further processing that is necessary to make it suitable for cell culture. > **[Fetal bovine serum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_bovine_serum)** > > Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is the most widely used serum-supplement for the in vitro cell culture of eukaryotic cells. It is commonly utilized in biomedical research, pharmaceutical development, and biomanufacturing due to its ability to support a wide variety of cell types. This is due to it having a very low level of antibodies and containing more growth factors, allowing for versatility in many cell culture applications. Fetal bovine serum is derived from the blood drawn from a bovine fetus Th... ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/33 "2013-08-04T16:45:48Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > The article doesn’t mention hormones and antibiotics. I’m all for vat grown chow in principle, but I want to know what it was swimming in before I eat it. If it’s anything like standard laboratory tissue culture, the media will be full of hormones and antibiotics. They might be able to make due without antibiotics if the process is scrupulously sterile, but that’s harder. And hormones are necessary to make cells and tissues grow the way you want. (Of course, to be pedantic, natural beef comes from muscles that are soaking in natural hormones). I wonder what they plan on using as media? As it turns out, calf serum is commonly used in a lot of tissue culture – it’s a cheap source of all kinds of hormones and growth factors. But that would sort of defeat the purpose of having “vegetarian” beef, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/34 "2013-08-04T18:32:12Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > It grows in a bath of bovine fetus serum. Yum. That comes from regular old commercial slaughterhouses. > > [Fetal bovine serum - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_bovine_serum) That is less disturbing then the way I originally read it as they were grown in a bath of bovine fetal semen, which in addition to being an 11 on the eewwwchh scale was highly confusing. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/35 "2013-08-04T18:52:02Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > That is less disturbing then the way I originally read it as they were grown in a bath of bovine fetal semen, which in addition to being an 11 on the eewwwchh scale was highly confusing. Yeah, fisting ass-rape of millions of bulls is right out. Unless they like it. _runs away_ ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/36 "2013-08-04T18:55:48Z")
Regular beef is grown swimming in growth hormones. They are in the cow. That’s what gets the steer to actually grow. Cloned cells wouldn’t eliminate the requirement of hormonal signals to stimulate growth and differentiation. ETA: as **lazybratsche** already mentioned… ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/37 "2013-08-04T19:07:52Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Regular beef is grown swimming in growth hormones. They are in the cow. That’s what gets the steer to actually grow. Cloned cells wouldn’t eliminate the requirement of hormonal signals to stimulate growth and differentiation. > ETA: as **lazybratsche** already mentioned… \*\*Lazy \*\*was also being humorously pedantic. The controversies about the overuse, abuse, etc of hormones and antibiotics in commercial beef production are well known. You’re using that tired old argument, “water is a chemical; why do hate chemicals?!” when the discussion is over mercury levels in fish or something. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/38 "2013-08-04T19:17:55Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > \*\*Lazy \*\*was also being humorously pedantic. The controversies about the overuse, abuse, etc of hormones and antibiotics in commercial beef production are well known. > > You’re using that tired old argument, “water is a chemical; why do hate chemicals?!” when the discussion is over mercury levels in fish or something. No, that’s not what I’m doing. I fully understand the controversies about excess hormones, antibiotics etc n our food supply. I also understand about being humorously pedantic. I am certainly not suggesting that there is an absolute functional equivalency between using BFS and naturally occurring hormones in food production. However, there are way too many people out there who have knee jerk reactions to words like ‘chemicals’ and ‘hormones’. Many people do not understand and think if they see hormones listed as part of the growth medium that it is inherently bad. My point was that some sort of hormones will always be required because the hormones are what stimulates and controls the process. The hormone cocktail may get refined and better defined in the future, but like the cow itself, there will be a need for hormonal control over the growth process. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/39 "2013-08-06T05:05:34Z")
[World’s first test tube burger!](http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/worlds-first-test-tube-burger-served-up-in-london/story-fn5fsgyc-1226691720832) I guess it won’t be coming to a grocery store any time soon - maybe 10, 20 years from now. What do you think - would you enjoy a nice laboratory-grown burger? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285/40 "2013-08-06T07:05:48Z")
I would eat test-tube meat. They need to do some work on it to make it more palatable, though. The meat used in this taste test was 100% muscle cells - no fat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-to-cook-worlds-first-burger-made-with-synthetic-beef/665285.md?page=3)