Are YOU ready to eat a lab-grown steak? Israeli company applies for license to serve petri dish meat to guests
Are YOU ready to eat a lab-grown steak? Israeli company applies for license to serve petri dish meat to guests
- Aleph Farms was supposedly the first to request permission to serve lab-grown meat
- It takes 4 weeks to grow cuts and they expect to grow thousands of tons of beef
Lab steaks could end up on restaurant menus.
Israeli company Aleph Farms is said to have been the first to apply to the Food Standards Agency for permission to serve lab-grown parts to diners.
Homegrown meat is still not available in the UK, but it is expected to account for a quarter of global meat consumption by 2035.
The production process requires a one-time collection of a cow’s fertilized eggs to grow high-quality, tasty and nutritious steaks.
Growing the parts takes about four weeks, and once up to scale, the company expects to be able to grow thousands of tons of beef from the single collection of cells.
Israeli company Aleph Farms is believed to have become the first to apply to the Food Standards Agency for permission to serve lab-grown parts to diners (stock image)
Didier Toubia, CEO of Aleph Farms, said: ‘We think the UK will take a few years, but the potential is huge.’
He said the company plans to start production in the UK in the coming years and is in talks with potential commercial partners.
The company filed an application with the FSA on July 21 – shortly after it also filed a similar application in Switzerland, the first such application in Europe.
Researchers have revealed that lab-grown or “cultured” meat, produced by growing animal cells, is up to 25 times worse for the climate than real beef.
The production of real meat has a huge environmental footprint as it requires water, feed and the felling of trees to make way for livestock.
Nevertheless, experts say the carbon footprint of lab-grown meat could be “orders of magnitude higher” once the industry grows.