Israeli scientists make world’s first 3D-printed ribeye steak

Technion researchers partner with Aleph Farms Ltd to create a 'real muscle, fat, and vascular-like system similar to a ribeye from a slaughtered cow'

Israeli scientists sounded the death knell for butchers this week after they unveiled the world’s first 3D-printed ribeye steak.

Boffins at Technion used the natural building blocks of meat – cow cells – to construct “a real muscle, fat, and vascular-like system similar to a ribeye from a slaughtered cow”, just with no abattoirs involved.

The institute partnered Israeli firm Aleph Farms Ltd to use the ever-developing world of 3D bio-printers to make “the world’s first slaughter-free ribeye steak”, which it described as “just as tender and juicy as one you’d buy from a butcher”.

Cutting down rainforests to make way for cattle has long been seen as unsustainable, with beef farming one of the least efficient systems in agriculture, so producing steaks from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a cow is seen as the future of meat consumption.

Last year Aleph said it was partnering Mitsubishi to bring lab-grown meat to Japan while it has also grown bovine cells on the International Space Station.