How can one $330,000 burger possibly be good for you, your children and grandchildren? A single experimental burger might be the start of something very big to provide food in the future while also minimizing the impact of meat production on Earth’s environment.

Why Would a Single Beef Burger Cost $330,000?

A synthetic beef burger created by Dutch scientists was produced in a laboratory. It was created from muscle stem cells and introduced publicly on Monday, Aug 5th, 2013. On the same day, Google co-founder Sergey Brin was revealed as the main money-man behind the scenes.

The synthetic burger was met with mixed results by two pioneering taste testers in London. Both praised this beginning stage of laboratory meat. Both said it tasted somewhat like conventional meat. Austrian nutritionist Hanni Ruetzler said, “I would say it’s close to meat. I miss the salt and pepper.” U.S. journalist Josh Schonwald added, “The absence is the fat, it’s a leanness to it, but the bite feels like a conventional hamburger.”

What’s in this for me and Future Generations?

Humans are naturally born omnivores. Their meat-craving instinct is not likely to change. What can change is the way meat or meat-like products are produced. Synthetically produced meat is the future of food production, and that future is closer than you may think. Now in its infancy, synthetic meat holds the prospect of tasting as good and having a texture as satisfying as the meat from today’s slaughtered live animals.

Synthetic meat takes a much lesser toll on the Earth’s environment than meat from live animals. For example, a pound of synthetic meat takes two pounds of feed to produce, while a pound of natural meat takes 20 pounds of feed. The grazing area is reduced to nearly none, furthering reducing the impact on Earth’s environment.

Is This Science Fiction?

No. Synthetic meat produced from stem cells may be available by the year 2022 and as reasonably priced as meat from your current grocery store, or perhaps even less expensive. For now, it’s very experimental meat produced in a laboratory. A blood sample is taken from the animal, which doesn’t harm the animal. Then the stem cells are grown to produce the meat in the laboratory.

It took nearly 20,000 strands of cells to make this single $300,000 5-ounce burger. For Monday’s inaugural taste test made open to the public, it was seasoned with salt, egg powder, breadcrumbs, red beet juice and saffron.

When this experiment is eventually implemented and in full production, it provides many possibilities for other kinds of animal protein for human consumption beyond beef, including pork, poultry and even fish.

Who Is Sergey Brin?

Now a billionaire as the result of being the visionary co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin is also a long-time animal-rights activist. A primary motivation for his investment in the synthetic meat project is his ethical doubts about the way cattle are currently raised and slaughtered. He said, “When you see how these cows are treated, it’s certainly something I’m not comfortable with.”

Brin is also the leader of the Google Glass effort and is frequently seen sporting the futuristic headgear.