Knowing a bit about mammalian cell culture, I’ve been wondering ever since this group’s first press release months and months ago whether they were (as is common) using FBS (fetal bovine serum) - and been very suspicious that they didn’t make a definite assertion that no animal products were used, and that they hadn’t published a paper that would disclose their methods (they’ve published a review, in a journal my school doesn’t access and which I didn’t bother to track down). So far as I know, the people who made the $330,000 in vitro burger still haven’t answered that question - I’m not aware they’ve been asked it, and the Mother Jones post talks about general practice but doesn’t seem to have information from this specific group. If this group is using FBS in their cell culture, they’re utter frauds, because they have cheerfully (and massively) publicized themselves as producing a burger made without slaughtering cows.
