Made entirely from pork cells, 3D Bio-Tissues’s (3DBT’s) cultivated steak fillet was made using the tissue engineering company’s own patented serum-free and animal-free cell booster (City-mix) which eliminates the need for conventional plant-based scaffolds.
As such, the fillet is 100% meat, leading 3DBT to believe that it is the ‘world’s first’ 100% cultivated pork steak to be produced and tested.
Newcastle University professor of tissue engineering and 3DBT chief executive Che Connon, alongside chief science officer Ricardo Gouveia, tested the fillet in the lab for various qualities in both its raw and cooked states.
Like the real thing
The pair found the fillet to be visibly similar to the real thing, while displaying similar structural integrity. Pan frying the fillet led to an element of shrinkage, as expected with traditional meat, with it also showing signs of charring and crisping on its surface.
Comment on the fillet, Connon said: “This is a significant scientific breakthrough which has very positive implications not just for BSF and 3DBT but also for the UK and the cultivated meat industry as a whole.
“We are absolutely delighted with the appearance, taste, aroma, and texture of our cultivated pork, which is the first time we have fully sampled our product. Our cruelty-free fillet has exceeded our expectations in all respects, and we are extremely excited about the technological progress we are making and the impact this could have on our industry.”
Full-scale production
3DBT said it would take the findings and proceed to producing a full-scale fillet to be showcased, cooked and eaten by a select panel at an upcoming event in London.
The company is also looking to work with manufacturers and su0permarkets to sell cultivated meat and separately with fashion companies to produce cultivated leather using the same tissue-templating process using skin cells.
“We look forward to taking the findings through to the next stage of development, focused on producing a chef-ready product for public consumption,” Connon added.
Meanwhile, in August, food tech firm Future Meat Technologies developed the ‘world’s first’ cultivated lambv that cooks and tastes like conventional ground lamb meat.
