A test-tube burger?

Heston Blumenthal may be serving up an enviromentally friendly E250 000 test-tube burger this year!

Would you eat a burger that was made in a petri dish? Could this be the future of food?

According to The Guardian an anonymous sponsor has funded a project that could reduce both the number of cattle farmed for food and greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr Mark Post, head of physiology at Maastricht University, plans to unveil his complete burger – produced at a cost of more than £200,000 or R2.4million – this October.

"Meat demand is going to double in the next 40 years and right now we are using 70% of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock," said Dr Post.

"You can easily calculate that we need alternatives. If you don't do anything meat will become a luxury food and be very, very expensive."

Heston Blumenthal to do the honours...

Dr Post hopes Heston Blumenthal, chef and owner of the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant, will cook the offering for a celebrity brave enough to taste the petri dish burger.

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Pic: Francois Lenoir/Reuters

Would you like to test The Test Tube Burger?