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The world’s first test-tube burger - costing £215,000 to make - was served today in London.

The 5oz (142g) patty of synthetic meat grown from cow stem cells was dished up to two food critics at a press conference.

Scientist-turned-chef Professor Mark Post produced the burger from 20,000 tiny strips of lab-grown meat.

He believes it could herald a food revolution, with artificial meat products appearing in supermarkets in as little as 10 years.

Prof Post’s team at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands conducted experiments which progressed from mouse meat to pork and finally beef.

The demonstration was originally planned for October last year, with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal cooking the burger for a mystery guest.

Today it was cooked by chef Richard McGowan, from Cornwall, and tasted by critics Hanni Ruetzler and Josh Schonwald.

Upon tasting the burger, Austrian food researcher Ms Ruetzler said: “I was expecting the texture to be more soft... there is quite some intense taste, it’s close to meat, but it’s not that juicy. The consistency is perfect, but I miss salt and pepper.”

She added: “This is meat to me. It’s not falling apart.”

Food writer Mr Schonwald said: “The mouthfeel is like meat. I miss the fat, there’s a leanness to it, but the general bite feels like a hamburger.

“What was consistently different was flavour.”

Prof Mark Post said: “It’s a very good start.”

Meanwhile Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has been revealed as the project’s mystery backer.

It is hoped the technique could help reduce the need for land, water and animal feed and decrease greenhouse gases as stem cells from just one animal could be used to make a million times more meat than could be butchered from a single beef carcass.

The Food Standards Agency said that before any “in vitro” meat is available for public consumption, it would have to go stringent safety tests and have need EU regulatory approval.

'I'll take the leftovers home to my children'

By Susannah Butter

An Austrian woman became the first ever person to try a cultured beef burger today at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios.

Food scientist Hanni Rutzler said the burger, grown from muscle cells taken from the shoulder of a cow, was: "close to meat. But there wasn't that intense meat flavour because it was quite lean. It was not as juicy as meat but the texture and consistency is perfect. I expected it to be softer. The surface is crunchy."

Second to take a bite was author Josh Schonwald. "It feels like meat," he said. "But it lacks fat. It had a cake like quality."

Creator Dr Mark Post, who has been working on the burger for five years says they are working on putting more fat in and that will take a couple of months. The burger's development has been funded by Google's Sergey Brin and each burger costs £250,000 to develop. It is being developed as a sustainable alternative to meat production.

The two testers volunteered to try it in an event in conjunction with Maastricht University, where Dr Post works.

Dr Post says he would gladly give it to his children and it is as safe, if not safer than conventional meat.

He is not able to say how much it will eventually cost but did say: "it could be £70 per kilo. Potentially people can grow their own meat in their kitchen. But not for around 20 years."

The burger was cooked by Richard McGeown, who fried it in sunflower oil and butter, "like any other burger". As it is so expensive to make so he said he was "careful not to burn it."

Post says the same technique can be done with other animals and fish but he is targeting it as meat eaters, not vegetarians. " It's better for everyone's resources if vegetarians remain vegetarian. I am flexitarian."

He would like to try making a steak, with more tissue. Although his first goal is to create the burger as a sustainable meat alternative.

The burger was served without condiments, although tester Josh Schonwald says he would have liked condiments and onion rings.

Half the burger was left over and Post said he would like to take it to his children.