Speaking with FoodNavigator, Mark Post, professor of physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, who is leading the research into lab grown meats, said that his team are currently aiming to produce small strands of meat which can then be processed to produce burgers and sausage type foods.
However, he said that the long term goals of the project have to be to grow much larger pieces of meat, such as steaks and chops, if the process was to succeed in helping to solve the ever growing problem of world hunger.
Post said that the current project is a ‘proof of principle’ project, which will require a lot more development before lab grown meats are commercially viable. However he added that he did see the technology being used commercially “not too far in the future.”
“Our goal is to build one burger in the coming year. It’s going to cost 250,000 Euros, so it’s a very expensive burger … but hopefully this will create enough enthusiasm and financial support to upscale and economise the processes, so that we can improve and start to think about a real manufacturing process,” said Post.