Would you like that burger rare, well done or grown in a laboratory?
Researchers in South Korea say they developed a new way of doing lab-grown meat it tastes like real. It may look like a transparent pink disc, but scientists hope it could revolutionize the meat on people’s plates.
Lab-grown meat – also called cultured meat or cell-based meat – is emerging as an alternative to conventional meat, offering the same nutritional benefits and sensory experience without the carbon footprint.
It is made by growing animal cells directly in a laboratory, grown on 3D structures called “scaffolds,” which allow the cells to multiply, eliminating the need to breed and grow animals.
Scientists have created everything from cultured meatballs for 3D printed steaks. While some previous iterations of cultured beef have mimicked the appearance of real meat, according to a new study, they have ignored one key element: flavor.
But in the study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers say they have cracked the code, developing a cultured meat that generates “grilled meat flavors when cooked.”
“Flavor is the most important thing in making cultured meat accepted as real,” Milae Lee, co-author of the paper and a doctoral student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Seoul Yonsei University, told CNN.
To mimic the flavor of conventional beef, Lee and his colleagues recreated the flavors generated during the Maillard reaction — a chemical reaction that occurs between an amino acid and a reducing sugar when heat is added, giving the burger that delicious, charred flavor.
They do this by introducing a switchable flavor compound into a gelatin-based hydrogel to form something called a functional structure, which Lee described as the “basic makeup of cultured meat.”
The flavoring compound, which consists of a flavoring group and two linking groups, remains in the structure until heated. It “turns on” when it is cooked for five minutes at a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit), releasing meaty flavors in a replica of the Maillard reaction, Lee said.
Because cultured meat is not yet edible, researchers used an electronic nose, which “mimics the human sniffing system,” Lee said, to test the aromas of cultured meat and see how it compared to conventional meat.
For this study, the researchers focused on adding “meaty” and “savory” flavors, Lee said, but the flavoring agent could also be adapted to incorporate other flavors — like the fat that comes from a juicy rib, for example. .
The research focused on the science behind the taste of lab-grown meat, not the commercialization of the process, which is why scientists used non-food substances. But they believe the strategy can be applied to conventional edible substances, Lee said.
They also plan to reduce the animal products used in the process, including the gelatin-based hydrogel, to work towards lab-grown meat that is almost entirely free of animal substances.
Livestock farming is responsible for 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere each year, according to UN data.This represents about 12% of all human-caused emissions. Beef production is the most carbon intensive.
Cultured meat is positioned as an environmentally friendly substitute for beef, although some studies they say its potential environmental impact may be exaggerated and depends on the discovery of less energy-intensive production methods.
“Lab-grown meat has enormous potential to contribute to sustainable diets, but its taste is likely only a small component of its success,” said Jennifer Jacquet, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Miami who was not involved in the research. .
“A lot of whether and how quickly lab-grown meat becomes acceptable or widespread depends on the actions of powerful meat and dairy companies,” she told CNN.
There has already been resistance in the USA. In May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis banned the sale of laboratory-grown meat in the state in what he said was an effort to protect farmers and ranchers.
“Today, Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in petri dishes or insects to achieve their authoritarian goals,” DeSantis said in a statement at the time.
But elsewhere in the US it is possible to get lab-grown chicken, although it is not yet beef.
In 2023, the US Department of Agriculture gave the green light to two companies – Good Meat and Upside Foods – to begin selling their farmed chicken products, becoming the second jurisdiction after Singapore where consumers could buy them.
The companies debuted its chicken in high-end restaurants in the US last year.
In May, Huber’s Butchery in Singapore became the first retail store to sell cultured meat, a Good Meat pulled chicken made with just 3% cultured meat. The rest are herbal ingredients, according to the Good Meat website.
Now that the research team in South Korea has found a piece of the puzzle to improve the taste of lab-grown meat, the next challenge is to marry that flavor with cultured meats that better mimic the appearance and texture of real meat – the pink a gelatinous blob is unlikely to be on the menu.
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