In August 2013, a team of Dutch scientists showed off their lab-grown burger (cost: $330,000) and even provided a taste test. Two months ago, the American company Memphis Meats fried the first-ever lab meatball (cost: $18,000 per pound). Those who have tasted these items say they barely differ from the real deal.
...
So here is the good news for lab-grown meat: According to its producers, lab-cultured beef or pork can be made completely free of heme iron. I think that removing heme iron from meat would make for a colon-safer product, says Graham Colditz, a cancer researcher at Washington University in St. Louis who has no association with the groups producing lab meat.
Another thing that might be removed from cultured meat, or significantly reduced, is saturated fat, which raises the level of bad cholesterol, increasing risk of stroke or heart disease. Healthier omega-3 fatty acids could take its place. Stem cells are, in principle, capable of making omega-3 fatty acids. If we can tap into that machinery of the cell, then we could make healthier hamburgers, says Post, who is working on the fat content of lab-grown beef.
