Researchers are to set up a company to look at making the burger tastier and cheaper.

The team had a prototype cooked and eaten in London two years ago that cost £215,000 to make.

The head of the new firm set out his plans to BBC News ahead of a symposium on developing the technology.

Peter Verstrate said: "I feel extremely excited about the prospect of this product being on sale. And I am confident that when it is offered as an alternative to meat that increasing numbers of people will find it hard not to buy our product for ethical reasons".

The lab-grown burger was developed by Prof Mark Post at his laboratory in Maastricht University, The Netherlands.

"I am confident that we will have it on the market in five years," he said. He explained it would be available as an exclusive product to order to begin with but would be on supermarket shelves once a demand had been established and the price comes down.