Raising the steaks: An Israeli start-up just made the first slaughter-free steak

[brooklynite]

National Post:

Aleph Farms has announced a world’s first: slaughter-free steak. The Israeli start-up’s cellular innovation apparently delivers “the full experience of meat with the appearance, shape and texture of beef cuts.”

Lab-grown meat (a.k.a. clean meat) is produced without killing animals, and while Aleph Farms is not alone in this pursuit, the company is breaking ground by replicating meat’s texture and structure in 3-D. Creating lab-grown ground meat is difficult enough, Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms says, let alone making an entire steak. “Meat is a complex tissue. This breakthrough includes various cell types found in conventional cuts of meat grown together outside the animal to form a 3-D structure similar to meat but using more sustainable, safe and ethical methods,” he explains in a video. “These first cell-based meat cuts demonstrate our capability of achieving our vision of growing steaks.”

The prototype took two-three weeks to make at a cost of $50 per steak, Toubia told Business Insider. As the initial specimen is quite thin, he says the product is at least three or four years away from hitting supermarket shelves and restaurant menus. “It’s close and it tastes good, but we have a bit more work to make sure the taste is 100 per cent similar to conventional meat,” he told The Guardian. “But when you cook it, you really can smell the same smell of meat cooking.”

The budding clean meat industry has made significant strides this year. San Francisco-based Just plans to launch its cultured chicken nuggets in select restaurants by the end of 2018, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, Netherlands-based Mosa Meat, creator of the world’s first cultured burger (the prototype cost nearly $400,000 in 2013), is planning a “small-scale” market rollout in 2021.

[brush]

1. Fake steak. Great!

[Blue_true]

8. Actually.

If humans ever start doing inter-stellar travel, like real fake meat and vegetables will be important. They should take up less space and can be frozen or freeze dried for long periods without going bad. Here on earth, I will just go with the real thing.

[C_U_L8R]

2. It's people. Of course.

[WhiteTara]

3. ...

Soylent Green!

[CentralMass]

6. ...

[Kali]

4. I am biased for sure, but

that just grosses me the hell out.

[BigmanPigman]

5. This may be our only choice in the future.

Farmed animals produce tons of Methane which is the second biggest contributor to Climate Change after Carbon. Since organic plants and meat also have recently been found to contribute too, lab produced plants, meat and dairy may be our only realistic future dining option. I wonder how much lab produced foods contribute (any or none) as well. I hope someone studies this before we sink all of our money, research and time into this production process.

[StevieM]

14. It may take a lot of money in research in order to make this work.

In order for lab grown meat to be viable it will have to become affordable.

I hope we can make this work. The planet's future is at stake.

We are also going to have to invest in geoengineering research.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. I can't wait to try this or a similar product, honestly.

I love eating meat. I hate what the meat industry does to workers and animals. I live in an area that has limited access to ethically raised and killed meat. I would try this ish in a hot second and I hope it's viable and affordable.

ETA: I'd love to see cheap "clean" meat for everyday use in stew, soup, hotdishes and so on, and use expensive "real" meat for once-a-week splurges or special occasions, leading to an increase in small, free-range animal meat providers that are carefully regulated when it comes to slaughter.

[CentralMass]

9. I am looking forward to trying it as well.

[catbyte]

10. I'd much rather eat "clean meat" than the dirty meat from factory farms/torture chambers.

Hell, what do they think McDonald's & Burger King are going to do once the rain forest is all chopped down? Planetary resources are finite, even though nobody seems to realize that to any serious degree.

[Takket]

11. have heard of this before.........

and i look forward to this hopefully taking the place of farmed animals someday. it is less resource intensive, cruel, and frankly... gross... than meat from a living animal.

[Mosby]

12. the BDS folks aren't going to like this.

[NightWatcher]

13. Fake, that makes so much more sense than where I thought this was going.

I thought for a second that they were going to say they waited for the cows to die of old age first.

This is some damn fine cannabis I've got tonight.

[Bayard]

15. Waiting for my replicator.....