Science

World-first lab-grown rib-eye steak demonstrates new 3D bioprinting tech

This rib-eye steak was produced using a new 3D bioprinting technology
Aleph Farms
This rib-eye steak was produced using a new 3D bioprinting technology
Aleph Farms

A little over two years after Israel-based start-up Aleph Farms unveiled the world’s first lab-grown steak, the company has now revealed a much more complex, thick-cut rib-eye steak. Cultivated using a novel 3D bioprinting technology, the company suggests it now has the ability to produce lab-grown iterations of any type of steak.

Lab-grown meat, also known as cultured meat or clean meat, has been rapidly evolving over the past few years. Across a decade scientists moved from producing a “soggy form of pork” in a laboratory to cultured chicken nuggets hitting Singapore market shelves in a world-first regulatory approval. One of the bigger challenges scientists face in creating slaughter-free meat products is replicating the numerous cuts of meat consumers are used to eating.

In 2018 Aleph Farms revealed the world’s first lab-grown steak imitating the cellular structures of a thin minute steak. Now, the company has revealed the creation of a more complex, thick rib-eye steak produced using a new 3D bioprinting technology.

“Unlike 3D printing technology, our 3D bioprinting technology is the printing of actual living cells that are then incubated to grow, differentiate, and interact, in order to acquire the texture and qualities of a real steak,” says Aleph Farms in a recent statement. “A proprietary system, similar to the vascularization that occurs naturally in tissues, enables the perfusion of nutrients across the thicker tissue and grants the steak with the similar shape and structure of its native form as found in livestock before and during cooking.”

Aleph Farms claims its 3D bioprinting technology offers the flexibility to produce any kind of cut of meat currently available. And, even more impressively, Aleph’s CEO Didier Toubier suggests the technology allows for cultured meat to be tailored to any highly specific preferences a consumer wishes, from adjusting fat content to controlling the structure of its connective tissues.

“With cows, the breed has a role, but the quality comes from the feed. With our cultivated meat it is similar,” Toubia said in a recent interview with The Washington Post. “We control the cultivation process, and we can design meat specifically for a market, adjusting the amount of collagen and connective tissues and fat, to tailor meat to specific requirements.”

The new 3D bioprinting technology was developed over the past two years with Aleph Farms’ research partner, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Despite these rapid technological advances, lab-grown meat is still yet to reach the market shelves of most consumers. To date, Singapore is the only region in the world to approve a form of lab-grown meat for public sale.

Aleph Farms and the Mitsubishi Corporation's Food Industry Group have joined forces in Japan to begin developing manufacturing and distribution facilities in preparation for future market approval.

Source: Aleph Farms

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15 comments
Tristan P
Yikes!
martinwinlow
Yep... all very interesting, but ... what the Hell does it *taste* like?!!!
Worzel
It might look the same, even taste the same, but is it?
Is it the same as cow meat, that was formed from an animal eating grass from a wide area, that has multiple trace elements, from multiple soils, that have broken down over centuries to release essential trace elements? The purpose of food is to supply nutrients, not just to look pretty! Function before profit!
buzzclick
Ugh, that's gross. As a mostly vegetarian you won't find me touching this so-called meat, even if it tastes and feels good.
paul314
Next: structural combinations of fat, fake blood vessels and fake gristle into cuts that could never exist in an animal. Biomolecular gastronomy.
Douglas Bennett Rogers
Done on an industrial scale, this could supplant the growing gluten intolerance.
Mark Sandorf
I’m 59 and have lived my entire life without eating such an abomination of nature. I feel quite comfortable with the thought of living out the rest of my years without ever doing so. “Looks real” ?!? It does NOT look like any rib eye I have ever had.
Signguy
Looks like it was boiled in water then "grilled" to make it look better. But as with other comments, what does it taste like, whats the "mouth feel", whats the nutritional makeup? Most importantly; IS IT SAFE?
Nelson Hyde Chick
If it tastes like a rib-eye and it ends the pain and suffering of cows I say great!!!
Wombat56
Worzel, These days many livestock don't get further than a feedlot, at least for the last few months before slaughter. So the mix of different nutrients from varying soils is a myth in their particular case.