It is juicy like the real thing. Yet it has less than half the amount of fat and two-thirds the cholesterol and calories of a bona-fide full-fat hamburger.

It's a ground beef formula developed by students and faculty at Ohio State University's College of Agriculture. And if there's any beef about it, it's that you can't buy the stuff.

Yet.

It's not that Mike Mangino, professor of food science and a developer of the "lean beef patty/whey'' (described as such in a university press release), isn't interested in marketing the formula. But the few prospects he has contacted -- including grocery stores and a food supplier -- have taken a wait-and-see attitude.

"I think the problem is too many bad products,'' said Mangino, recalling the ill-fated McLean Deluxe burger from McDonald's. Investors are wary to jump in when it comes to reduced-fat anything, he added.

"We weren't looking for something better. We were just looking for something close to it or as good,'' said Mangino.

Traditionally, low-fat ground beef cooks up dry and tough because moisture has been removed along with the fat, said Mangino. To improve texture, producers add water to the meat, and binders such as the seaweed extract called carageenan (used in McLean Deluxe) to help keep moisture from seeping out during cooking.

Unfortunately, low-fat burgers also suffer from lack of flavour, he added, not only because part of the fat is missing but because binders often react with other substances in the meat and neutralise pleasant flavours.

The "magic'' ingredient in the lower-fat burger from OSU is whey protein, a gel-like substance from whey, a byproduct of cheese-making.

Mangino said that work began on the OSU burger three years ago when Professor Poul Hansen (now emeritus) challenged a class studying technical problem-solving to come up with a better burger.

"The approach was to try every kind of molecule that binds water,'' Mangino said. "A whole host of carbohydrate-based molecules were examined.

When whey protein was tried instead, a much better product resulted, he said.

Whey protein, consisting of the most nutritious proteins in milk, is made by passing whey through a membrane to remove water, sugars and salt, Mangino said. What's left behind is dried.

*** Breakfast is getting cheaper by the day.

Quaker Oats Co. this week became the fourth of the nation's largest cereal makers to reduce prices on its brands, trimming prices an average of 15 percent on most boxed cereals, including the popular Cap'n Crunch and Life.

Prices of Quaker's bagged cereals were not changed.

Quaker expected the price cuts, and its continued struggle to revive sales of its troubled Snapple tea-and-juice line, to hurt the bottom line in the second half of the year. Earnings for the second quarter are expected to be on target.

The cereal cuts alone are expected to reduce the Chicago-based company's after-tax earnings this year by $30 million to $40 million, Quaker chairman and chief executive William D. Smithburg said. The announcement came after the close of trading last Wednesday.

Quaker reported last week its share of the cereal market suffered after a price war was triggered in April by No. 3 cereal maker Post.

Quaker's share fell to 7.9 percent on June 8 from 8.3 percent a year earlier, according to Nielsen Marketing Research. Post's share also fell in that period, but rose 15 percent in the four weeks since it initiated the latest round of price cuts.

Kellogg and General Mills, the top two cereal makers, also suffered falling market share after Post cut prices.

General Mills announced last week it would either cut prices or package bigger boxes for the same price on 27 other brands or sizes.

Kellogg, the maker of Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini-Wheats and Froot Loops, cut prices on 16 brands by an average of 19 percent. Post cut prices an average of 20 percent on brands including Spoon Size Shredded Wheat and Raisin Bran.