LONDON — The world’s first laboratory-grown beef burger was flipped out of a petri dish and into a frying pan on Monday, with food tasters declaring it tasted "close to meat".Grown in-vitro from cattle stem cells at a cost of €250,000, the burger was cooked and eaten in front of television cameras to gain the greatest media coverage for the culmination of a five-year science experiment.Resembling a standard, circular-shaped red meat patty, it was created by knitting together 20,000 strands of laboratory-grown protein, combined with other ingredients normally used in burgers, such as salt, breadcrumbs and egg powder. Red beet juice and saffron were added to give it colour.The two food tasters were reserved in their judgment, perhaps keen not to offend their host at the London event, noting the burger’s "absence of fat".Pressed for a more detailed description of the flavour, food writer Josh Schonwald said the cultured beef had an "animal protein cake"-like quality to it, adding that ...
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