Israeli company receives the green light to manufacture the world’s first cultured beef steaks

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Israeli Company Receives Approval to Sell Cultured Beef Steaks

An Israeli company has been given the green light by health authorities to sell the world‘s first steaks made from cultured beef cells, a significant milestone in the development of lab-grown meat. Aleph Farms, based in Rehovot, Israel, received preliminary approval from the Israeli Ministry of Health in December, with plans to introduce a cultured “small steak” for diners in Israel.

The decision was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the development as a “global breakthrough.” The meat, grown from cells derived from a fertilized egg from a Black Angus cow named Lucy on a California farm, is expected to go through final inspections and regulatory approvals before it can be served to diners in the coming months.

This is not the first time that lab-grown meat has received approval for sale. Last year, the United States approved lab-grown chicken from California-based companies Upside Foods and Good Meat. The approval of cultured meat is seen as a significant step towards reducing harm to animals and addressing the environmental impact of conventional meat production.

However, the cultured meat industry still faces challenges, including high costs and the need to produce meat on a large enough scale to make it affordable and profitable. More than 150 companies around the world are pursuing the goal of creating cultured or “cell-cultured” meat, each facing the challenge of scaling up production to meet demand.

Cultured meat is raised in large steel tanks with cells from a live animal, a fertilized egg, or a special bank of stored cells. Researchers combine these original cells with special nutrients to help them grow into doughs or sheets of meat that can be shaped into familiar foods such as chops or steaks.

The approval of Aleph Farms’ cultured beef steaks is a significant step towards the widespread availability of lab-grown meat and may have far-reaching implications for the future of food production and sustainability.