Image by Paul Hanaoka (Unsplash.com)
Are you vegan but miss the taste of meat? Want greener alternatives but can only eat so much salad? How about a 3D plant-based steak? 3D printed meat is beginning to emerge in the global meat market as an alternative to animal meat. Made from plant matter, 3D meat is making leaps and bounds in its development. In fact, 3D meat has already made its debut in space while 3D printed chicken and fish are almost ready to join the red meat market.
Image by Ines Álvarez Fdez (Unsplash.com)
The benefit of 3D printed meat is the significant reduction of resources that are used in raising livestock, namely water, farmland, and especially time. Future Meat Technologies states that meat grown in their bioreactors have 80% less greenhouse gas emissions, uses 99% less land, and uses only 4% of the water typically used in livestock farms.
The main problem that the 3D meat printing industry has run into is mimicking the feel and taste of real meat. Real meat contains and abundant of different textures and particles, such as oily fats and chewy tissues. Unfortunately, 3D meat has not yet mastered the art and feel of your favorite New York Strip, but it has definitely made progress! Novameat, a Spanish firm, approaches the problem by using a variety of vegetables, such as peas, seaweed, and rice, to simulate the mouthfeel of real meat.
Bottom to top: NovaMeat’s progress in 3D printed steak (Source: Sifted)
The next hurdle the meat-printing market must jump is quantity sustainability. The science behind creating a plant-based meat alternative is there but making it efficient enough to become commercially viable for large food chains is another issue.
However, once the emerging meat-printing industry reaches a tenth of the size as the current multi-trillion-dollar industry, plant-based meat could be a more affordable alternative to animal meat as well. Another entrepreneur in this emerging industry, Redefine Meat, is already testing and predicting the future meat market. CEO Eshchar Ben-Shitrit states that there is “no reason for plant-based meat to be more expensive than meat from animals. It’s more efficient, less energy and resource intensive, and the process emits much less waste.” Redefine Meat plans to launch their trademarked product, Alt-Steak, in select high-end restaurants later this year.
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