World's first lab-grown meatballs 'ready for mass production', claim scientists – but would you eat them? | The Sun

THE world's first lab-grown meatballs are "ready for mass production", claim scientists – but would you eat them?

Researchers in China claim they've developed a "cell factory" that can produce lab-grown animal calls at industrial levels.

Scientists at Tsinghua University and Nanjing Agricultural University say they have an edible, 3D gelatine "micro-carrier" that has sped up cultured meat production 20-fold in seven days.

So far, previous studies have only been able to gain a 10-fold expansion over the same period, according to South China Morning Post.

The authors of the latest study, published in medical journal Biomaterials last month, let pig muscle cells and fat grow separately before mashing them together into a 3D-printed mould and using an enzyme to create centimetre-big meatballs.

"Such meat engineering method enables robust and scalable bio-fabrication of ground meat alternatives such as meatballs or sausages, which may innovate the future meat menu," the researcher said.

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Scientsts also compared to the cultured cut with a traditional slice of pork.

They found the cultured example had 70 percent protein, 4 percent fat and 6 percent carbohydrate, as well as key essential minerals such as zinc, calcium and iron.

Meanwhile, the store-bought meat only had one-fifth of the cultured meat's protein and three times the amount of fat – though it did have fewer calories.

"Therefore, engineered PSC [muscle satellite cell] meatballs can be a nutritious alternative for ground pork products," the researchers said.

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The lab-grown stuff is being touted as a safer, healthier and more environmentally-friendly way of eating raw meat.

In 2020, a UK meat company was able to develop pork belly and bacon strips made in a lab.

Higher Steaks said it created sample products of the lab-grown meat and hopes to have a large scale testing event later this year.

According to Tech Crunch, Higher Steaks used lab-grown cells, plant products, proteins, fats and starches to create its futuristic meat product.

It comes as lab-grown meat looks likely to hit our supermarket shelves sooner than previously thought, according to one group of scientists.

Paul Mozdziak from North Carolina State University and his chums, who are working on producing cultured turkey meat, now claim their products could be purchased at stores within years.

They found that chicken and turkey meat doesn't need the same cell-developments necessary for pork or beef to "grow" and therefore could be constructed at home in kegs or bioreactors, similarly to brewing beer.

Their version of turkey is more similar to a nugget than the roast bird many are used to.

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Despite that, they believe they will be able to start tweaking their process to combine the muscle and fat into a tasty consistency.

The largest hurdle is finding enough stem cells from fresh meat or live animals to harvest the cultures.

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