Test Tube Beef

'At least it tastes of meat!': World's first test-tube artificial beef 'Googleburger' gets GOOD review as it's eaten for the first time.

The 142g patty cost £250,000 to make and consists of meat grown in a lab.

Total of 20,000 strips of meat were grown in petri dishes in the Netherlands.

The artificial meat was electrically stimulated to bulk up the 'muscle' and then blended with 200 pieces of lab-grown animal fat.

Red beetroot juice and saffron added to provide authentic beef coloring.

It has also been revealed that one of the burger's financial backers is computer entrepreneur, and Google co-founder, Sergey Brin.

Science Behind The Frankenburger

The stem cells are cultivated in a nutrient broth, allowing them to proliferate 30-fold.

Next they are combined with an elastic collagen and attached to Velcro 'anchor points' in a culture dish. Between the anchor points, the cells self-organise into chunks of muscle.

Electrical stimulation is then used to make the muscle strips contract and 'bulk up' - the laboratory equivalent of working out in a gym.

Finally thousands of beef strips are minced up, together with 200 pieces of lab-grown animal fat, and moulded into a patty. 

Around 20,000 meat strands are needed to make one 142g burger.

Other non-meat ingredients include salt, egg powder, and breadcrumbs. Red beetroot juice and saffron are added to provide authentic beef colouring.

By VICTORIA WOOLLASTON, RACHEL REILLY and NICK MCDERMOTT