A burger made from cultured beef, which has been developed by Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands (pictured) is shown to the media during a press conference on August 5, 2013 in London, England. The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its creator says could provide an answer to global food shortages and help combat climate change, was fried in a pan and tasted by two volunteers. The burger is the result of years of research by Dutch scientist Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht, who is working to show how meat grown in petri dishes might one day be a true alternative to meat from livestock.The meat in the burger has been made by knitting together around 20,000 strands of protein that has been cultured from cattle stem cells in Post’s lab.

PETA, the animal rights organization has already voiced its support for the lab-meat initiative. “Instead of the millions and billions of animals being slaughtered now, we could just clone a few cells to make burgers or chops,” said Ingrid Newkirk, PETA president and co-founder, in a statement. Post said his method would require only a stem cell contribution from animals, which could then be used to create 20,000 tons of cultured beef.

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