World's first lab-grown steak is served up in Israel

This announcement by Aleph Farms is an important milestone in the world of cellular meat production. The first lab-grown steak has been served up in Israel. Made from cells that were isolated from a cow and grown into a 3-D structure, the steak's creator, Aleph Farms, says it represents a benchmark in cellular meat production. In a world where industrial farming is increasingly under scrutiny for its ethical and environmental repercussions, this announcement is meaningful. Other companies are part of the race to produce lab-grown meat, but usually in unstructured formats – burger patties and chicken nuggets. Aleph Farms' creation of an actual steak is ambitious and impressive. The steak is said to have the same texture as conventional meat, and it gives off that familiar beef smell when cooking, but its creators say they have to work on refining the taste and thickness. Right now the steak is only 5 mm thick. The prototype costs $50 for a small strip, but according to Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO at Aleph Farms, this is good, considering that the first lab-grown beef burger in 2013 cost €250,000 (US $283,500). As Toubia told the Guardian, "The cost would come down as the production process was moved from the lab to a scalable commercial facility." The steak, however, will likely not become commercially available for another three to four years...MORE

Also see First Lab-Grown Steak a Huge Breakthrough in Reducing Environmental Impacts of Meat