The menu of sustainable alternatives to traditional meat continues to grow. After synthetic meat and insect flour, a new “hybrid” dish could soon arrive on tables all over the world. Net, obviously, of cultural and regulatory resistance from various countries. A new study developed by a team of South Korean scientists and published in the journal Mattertoday presents the new beef grown in rice grains.
How the new hybrid rice is produced
It is a “hybrid” rice in whose grains bovine muscle and fat cells are grown. Rice grains are used as a sort of scaffold within which cultured meat stem cells can develop. Rice was chosen for its natural characteristics: grains with a porous structure, and molecules capable of nourishing animal cells, promoting their growth. To facilitate their taking root, the grains are coated with fish gelatine, a safe and edible ingredient.
The first author of the study, Dr. Sohyeon Park, explains that the new dish allows us to obtain all the nutrients needed by humans thanks to the combination of animal and plant cells. The new food represents a more economically accessible protein alternative compared to other non-traditional foods already on the market or being tested, while boasting a very low environmental impact.
In the article published on Matterthe characteristics of the final product are illustrated: low risk of triggering allergic reactions, and, speaking of nutritional values, 8% more proteins and 7% more fats compared to plain rice.
The process to obtain “beef rice” requires that the grains are first treated with fish gelatine – safe and edible – underline the scientists, so that the animal’s stem cells can adhere better to the surface. The animal cells are then inserted into rice and left in culture for 9-11 days.
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The development of the new food is in the final phase, but before the green light for marketing, researchers at Yonsei University in Seoul plan a further processing step to further increase its nutritional value.