MeaTech 3D Ltd. has revealed that it has succeeded in bioprinting a 3.67 oz (104-gram) cultivated steak. The steak is primarily composed of cultivated real fat and muscle cells. The company believes this is an important milestone toward the goal of scaled production of cultivated bio-printed steaks.

MeaTech 3D develops an alternative to industrialized farming, circumventing the ethical and environmental issues surrounding conventional animal husbandry by developing an industrial cultured meat production process with integrated 3D printing technology.

Bio-printed Steaks

The cells used in making the steak were produced using an advanced and proprietary process that starts by isolating bovine stem cells from tissue samples and multiplying them. Upon reaching sufficient cellular mass, stem cells were formulated into bio-inks compatible with MeaTech’s proprietary 3D bio-printer. The bio-inks were printed from a digital design file of a steak structure. The printed product was placed in an incubator to mature, where the printed stem cells were differentiated into fat and muscle cells that develop into fat and muscle tissue, respectively, to form the MeaTech steak.

MeaTech’s goal is developing a true replacement for conventional steak that maximizes cell-based content rather than non-meat ingredients. The cultivated steak is comprised of real, living muscle and fat cells, and does not contain any soy or pea protein typically used in plant-based alternatives. MeaTech employed advanced 3D bioprinting technology developed in-house and advanced tissue engineering science to reach this important milestone, bringing sustainable, premium cultivated meat products closer to the market.

MeaTech intends to continue improving upon its bioprinting and cultivation technologies to produce cultivated meat that better mirrors the key characteristics of farm-raised, premium steak.

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