Aleph Farms, the Israeli cultivated meat pioneer, and its research partner at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, have successfully cultivated the world’s first slaughter-free ribeye steak.
The team used 3D bioprinting technology and natural building blocks of meat – real cow cells, without genetic engineering and immortalisation – to produce the steak.
The proprietary technology was developed two years after Aleph Farms unveiled the world’s first cultivated thin-cut steak in 2018 which did not utilise 3D bioprinting.
Now, the company said it has the ability to produce any type of steak and plans to expand its portfolio of quality meat products.
Unlike 3D printing technology, Aleph Farms’ 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.
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.
“This breakthrough reflects an artistic expression of the scientific expertise of our team,” enthuses Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms.
He added: “This accomplishment represents our commitment to meeting our consumer’s unique preferences and taste buds, and we will continue to progressively diversify our offerings.
“Additional meat designs will drive a larger impact in the mid and long term. This milestone for me marks a major leap in fulfilling our vision of leading a global food system transition toward a more sustainable, equitable and secure world.”
The cultivated ribeye steak is a thicker cut than the company’s first product – a thin-cut steak. It incorporates muscle and fat similar to its slaughtered counterpart and boasts the same organoleptic attributes of a delicious tender, juicy ribeye steak you’d buy from the butcher.
“With the realisation of this milestone, we have broken the barriers to introducing new levels of variety into the cultivated meat cuts we can now produce. As we look into the future of 3D bioprinting, the opportunities are endless,” says Technion Professor Shulamit Levenberg, Aleph’s co-founder, Chief Scientific Advisor and a major brainpower behind the company’s IP.
