Have you ever been to a restaurant with a friend, you both ordered a steak, but you were disappointed when your friend’s steak was bigger, more tender, tasted better, and had less fat? With cultured meat, this won’t happen.
One of the advantages of 3D printing cultured steak is that it will be possible to make each one uniform with the highest quality possible in terms of texture, marbling, taste, etc. Whether in a restaurant or packaged at the grocery store, the product experience will be consistent. No bad cuts of meat. You get exactly what you want and expect every time.
Ultimately, Steakholder Foods, formerly MeaTech 3D, cultured steaks will be indistinguishable from slaughtered meat in terms of look, feel, texture, and taste. As we improve our 3D bioprinting and cultivated meat technology, we are better able to mirror the key characteristics of farm-raised, premium steak. Earlier this month, we moved one step closer by improving the density, thickness, and length of real living bovine muscle fibers. Last December, we successfully printed the largest cultivated steak to date, a breakthrough for the cultured meat industry.
Make the right choice of meat Photo by Ivan Lapyrin on Unsplash
When our technology and processes gain popularity, the door will be opened for creating uniform steaks at scale, customized for dietary needs (e.g., low fat or low cholesterol) or specific flavor characteristics with precision fat marbling.
Supermarket chains will be able to purchase systems to create their own store-branded “clean” meats based on customer preferences. By clean, we mean next to no risk of foodborne pathogens, no antibiotics, no growth hormones, and a much lower carbon footprint.
Earth’s population is growing, and so is demand for meat
By 2030, meat consumption is projected to grow by 30% in Africa, 18% in the Asia and Pacific region, 12% in Latin America, 0.4% in Europe, and 9% in North America (Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ). To keep pace with demand, meat suppliers will always need more land and water. The FAO says 26% of the earth’s terrestrial surface is used for livestock grazing. One-third of the planet’s farmable land is used to grow feed for livestock. When compared to conventional meat, cultured meat is projected to reduce global land use by between 63% to 95%. (Source: Good Food Institute)
Photo by Pavel Gardavsky on Unsplash
Making the moral dilemma disappear
There is a growing awareness and concern in the world about the moral and ethical dilemma of eating meat from slaughtered animals. Yet, on the whole, demand is not going away. Could cultured meat make the dilemma go away? We will no longer need to slaughter an animal to enjoy and gain nourishment from its meat. We won’t need to take a life to feed life. We will be able to enjoy a good steak and not feel conflicted about the environmental impact of our enjoyment.
Let’s all look forward and everybody will win
The demand for cultured meat will surely grow as consumers become more informed about its benefits. Uniformity in quality, taste, texture, and size? That’s a win. Food technology that can help make our planet healthier? That’s a huge win.
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