Global meat consumption ahead increase each year until 2023, the world faces a dilemma: food production is responsible for 26 percent of greenhouse gas emissions; 50 percent of the world’s living space the land is used for agriculture; and 80 percent of this agriculture the land is used for livestock. Collectively, however, livestock represent less than
20 percent of world calories.

And the immense environmental consequences of raising these cattle are well documented. The industrial meat industry is a major contributor
climate change, water pollution, deforestation, forest fires, loss of biodiversity, acid rain, human rights violations and land grabbing. Intensive husbandry practices have a global impact, with beef being one of the main offenders; per kilogram of beef is responsible for 60kg of greenhouse gases and requires
900 gallons of water
produce.

With the demand for meat not slowing down, innovators and scientists around the world have strived to create delicious alternatives without the harsh environmental impacts. The booming market for plant protein alternatives is a promising development, but there remains a need for additional and sustainable sources of meat that can satisfy the world’s appetites.

Enter Aleph Farms: The Israeli startup has joined forces with Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering – Israel Institute of Technology and created the world’s first cultured, non-slaughter rib eye steak – 3D bio-printed with live cultured animal tissue.

“We assemble a whole steak cut into muscle from the bottom up. It is assembled on the outside of the animal, reproducing its natural building blocks using different types of living animal cells ”, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Didier Toubia Told
Sustainable Brands ™. “We use non-GMOs and non-immortalized cells. The 3D bio-printed fabric is then incubated, where cells develop and interact in the same way as in nature, giving the fabric the texture and qualities of a “real” steak.

With Aleph’s technology, people can have a steak that satisfies their desire for meat without the harsh environmental impacts or associated animal exploitation.

On its own, lab-grown meat isn’t a new idea: like US-based tech darlings
Foods upside down (fka Memphis meats) and other “clean meat” producers, Aleph starts with cells taken from an animal biopsy and grows them in a controlled laboratory; but unlike its competitors (Upside’s lab-grown chicken, for example, would missing texture variation
conventionally raised chicken), Aleph’s proprietary process grows all parts of the meat – muscle, fat, blood vessels and connective tissue – to provide a ‘free’ taste and texture: a structure that functions like the vascular system occurring naturally in the tissues, “explained Toubia,” to allow the infusion of nutrients through the thicker tissue, giving the steak the shape and structure similar to its native form than the found in cattle.

The Aleph cultivation method requires a fraction of the time required to grow conventional meat, with a fraction of the resources. The company aims to build a diverse portfolio of meat products grown to meet the range of consumer preferences in various food cultures around the world.

Moving away from conventional meat production is an essential step if we are to minimize human impacts on the planet. Many LCA analyzes
demonstrate the potential of the cultured meat industry to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce land use by over 90 percent and water use by over 50 percent . And, while the energy intake from cultured meat production is considered moderate, a recent LCA carried out by CE Delft

have projected that if production is powered 100 percent by renewable energy, cultured meat can reduce the carbon footprint of beef production by 92 percent.

Aleph Farms promises much more than the environmental benefits of cultured meat – it is also currently the only company in this emerging industry to commit to carbon neutral production by 2025 and carbon neutrality across the board. its supply chain by 2030.

In a recent study, a strategy and management consulting firm To Kearney
predicted
that by 2040, 35 percent of all meat consumed globally will be of cellular origin. But in the meantime, the nascent industry would struggle to meet the demand of the global market. Toubia claims that Aleph has developed five unique technologies that will contribute to a proprietary large-scale production process:

“This process consumes only a fraction of the time and resources required to produce conventional meat. Performed under controlled conditions, it eliminates the need for antibiotics. It also cuts the farm-to-fork time to three weeks, compared to an average of two years with conventional methods of growing meat. This sudden reduction in product supply times offers the market a huge advantage of flexibility to adapt to market needs, especially in times of crisis. This can be a major stepping stone towards a more resilient supply chain and safer standards in the meat industry. “

Meanwhile, cell-based meat innovators recently made technical and regulatory advances
that bring them closer to successful market penetration, including Aleph: “We interacted with the USDA and FDA over the past three years and I think the United States will be one of the first countries to allow the marketing of cultured meat, ”said Toubia.

With a number of cellular meat companies on the verge of launching products, the market is emerging. Another Israeli company, Future meat technologies, is about to launch an affordable price, cell-based chicken breast. And while there is no defined regulatory framework for cell-based meat in the United States, many companies say they expect to be able to bring products to market
relatively soon: according to Food Diving,
Just eat, cell-based seafood maker
BlueNalu

and
Upside down
are among those who say they are close to product launches.

Meanwhile, Aleph Farms is building a pilot plant called the BioFarm â„¢ in Israel, which, according to Toubia, will be operational by the end of 2022; Aleph aims to launch its first product, a thin-cut beef steak, later in the year.

“Cultured meat is no longer a long-term vision, but rather a practical solution to some of our most pressing problems today related to food production,” says Toubia. “This step represents the ongoing process of bringing cultured meat products to world markets.”

Through the collaboration of science and technology, cell-based meat innovators such as Aleph Farms are giving our lands and animals a break from years of exploitation and abuse, while still satisfying a market that will likely go hungry for decades.