Two food critics have eaten meat that was grown in a lab. It is the first time anyone has eaten artificial meat. The experiment is part of a project run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. He invested over $380,000 in research for the burger. It took a team of scientists at a university in Holland over two months to grow the meat for the patty. They used stem cells from a cow and grew 20,000 tiny pieces of meat. These were mixed with salt, egg powder, breadcrumbs and other ingredients to make the burger. Mr Brin hopes artificial meat will become part of our diets in ten years. He wants to stop animals from being killed for food. He also knows stem-cell meat will be better for the environment.

Mr Brin's burger was put to the taste test on Monday. Two food experts tried the beef burger. An English chef fried it in sunflower oil and butter. Austrian food scientist Hanni Rutzler said it was "close to meat" but it "lacked juiciness". She also thought it was a little tougher than she expected. US author Josh Schonwald commented that it was a little dry but was like a real burger. He said: "The absence is the fat. It has a leanness but the bite feels like a conventional hamburger." Many journalists wanted a taste, but there was only one burger. Lead researcher Mark Post said he would give any leftovers to his children. He said cells taken from one cow could produce 175 million burgers.