ABC NEWS 24 JUNE 2025
Translated from English by Dimitris Symeonidis
Now Australia is also manufacturing Synthetic Meat, a country that is a livestock country and I don't think it should force people to eat synthetic meat. In fact, the factory in Sydney is just a few kilometers from my house.
Singapore became the first country to approve the sale of cultured meat, specifically chicken meat from the company Eat Just, in 2020. This meat is made in a lab from animal cells, and is considered a more sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional meat farming. The US has also approved the sale of cultured meat, although it is not yet widely available on the market. With this approval, Singapore aims to increase local food production and reduce its dependence on imports
USA: They have also approved the sale of cultured meat, but it is not yet widely available.
Israel: There has been no reported approval for the sale of cultured meat yet, but the country is interested in this technology, due to the environmental and ethical advantages it offers.
The 12 countries signing the document warn about the potential consequences of synthetic meat: "This practice threatens primary farm-based food production methods."
The note was drafted by the delegations of Austria, France and Italy and is supported by the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia.
Synthetic meat that will be created from plants and manufactured by... computers will soon be eaten by Greeks, like the rest of Europeans, and the reason for all this will of course be the anti-Russian sanctions.
The sanctions imposed on Russia have created a food crisis, and so now some have the opportunity to offer... solutions.
The Israeli company Redefine Meat makes a meat substitute and it is this that will be used to address the food crisis.
The company recently reached an agreement with Italy-based importer Giraudi Meats.
But even better is thatas reported by Reuters (the ultimate mainstream media) through Giraudi, This synthetic meat will be released in restaurants and butchers in France this month, then in Italy, Greece and Sweden by the end of the year and then in dozens of other countries next year!
That is, by December at the latest, or early January, this "product" will also be available in Greece, as Reuters itself reports.
Israeli company Redefine Meat has partnered with importer Giraudi Meats to promote the European distribution of its “New Meat” steak produced on 3D printers.
The start-up operates large-scale meat printers at its headquarters in Rehovot south of Tel Aviv and at a new factory in the Netherlands, hoping to create its products as an alternative to “conventionally produced” meat.
The early hype around plant-based meat alternatives, seen as better for animals and the environment, has waned as concerns about inflation and recession have led some consumers to turn back to cheaper animal-based meat products, while staff shortages have hit fast-food chains, a major sales channel for plant-based burgers.
U.S.-based Beyond Meat (BYND.O) cut its sales outlook, although food giant Nestle (NESN.S), less exposed to quick-service restaurants, said consumer interest in plant-based meat alternatives was still strong.
Redefine Meat, which makes its products from ingredients such as soy and pea proteins, chickpeas, beets, nutritional yeast and coconut fat, has ambitious plans.
Israeli start-up Redefine Meat commercially launches 3D printed plant-based New-Meat
"Our product is meat, it has the same characteristics, it's just made in a different way", co-founder and CEO Eshchar Ben-Shitrit told Reuters, adding that production capacity will reach 15 tons per day this year.
"The fact that our products are now sold by Giraudi Meats, the same people who sell high-quality meat, shows that these are not conventional vegan products.", he said.
Ben-Shitrit said that Redefine Meat launched fillet steaks and their adoption by chefs in expensive restaurants proved their quality!
With Giraudi's help, it will launch its products in restaurants and butchers in France this month, then in Italy, Greece and Sweden later this year and in dozens of other countries next year.
New Meat is currently available in Israel, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany in nearly 1.000 restaurants that currently pay about $40 per kilogram for Redefine Meat steak cuts, Ben-Shitrit said.
In a kitchen in downtown Sydney, chef Kevin Condon lists the ingredients used in his signature foie gras dish. Most are unimpressive: garlic, brandy, butter. But one is so rare that it has only just been approved for consumption in Australia. This foie gras, a specialty dish made from liver, comes from Japanese quail — which is unusual on any menu.
But the meat itself didn't come from any slaughtered animal. It was "grown" from actual meat cells in a factory.
It is conventionally known as "lab-grown" or cell-cultured meat and has just been deemed safe for consumption by Australia's food regulator.
Foie gras grown in a lab will be on plates within a few months.
The new food is made by multiplying individual cells (taken from an animal, dead or alive) in a large tank of liquid, such as in a brewery, and then turning this paste into a food, such as foie gras or minced meat.
“We put the cells in a nutrient broth that essentially recreates many of the conditions under which cells grow in our bodies.
“There are amino acids, sugars… and that’s what actually allows the cells to grow in a way that’s very similar to what you would see in a brewery,” explains Ellen Dinsmoor on a recent tour of a lab-grown meat factory in Sydney.
Ms Dinsmoor is the CEO of Vow, one of two lab-grown meat startups in Australia.
The other is Melbourne-based Magic Valley, whose business strategy is different, targeting the mass-market consumer with its minced meat products.
After a two-year process, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has given the green light for Vow's product to be sold for consumption.
Cultured quail foie gras from Japanese quail is expected to reach customers' plates at a few upscale restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne within a few months, if all goes according to plan for the company.
In its decision, FSANZ stated:
"Our evaluation concluded that the product is safe for human consumption and does not present toxicological, nutritional or allergenic concerns."
"The quail cell line was found to be genetically stable and the microbiological risks associated with its production can be effectively addressed through established food safety controls."
Ways to convince consumers
Despite this regulatory decision and the fact that cultured meat has been in production for over a decade, only a handful of countries around the world have approved it as safe for sale, and Italy, as well as several US states, have banned it.
Dora Marinova, a sustainability expert at Curtin University, says the industry still has a way to go in convincing consumers that it is safe and nutritious to consume.
"There's not that much enthusiasm, mainly because people are not familiar with the product and especially young people are very skeptical," Professor Marinova tells ABC News while enjoying a salad in a cafe in Perth.
Because lab-grown meat companies start from scratch – literally, with the tiny individual cells of an animal – the world is theirs in terms of which creatures they can turn into meat.
“We can grow meat from any animal,” explains Ms. Dinsmoor, standing at the company’s headquarters in front of a brainstorming board that includes ideas such as crocodile medallions and shark fin soup.
"We look at all the animals out there and say, which one would taste the best? Which one would be the most nutritious for humans?"
“Our cell library has over 50 different cell types!”
Vow even made a “wool mammoth meatball” (made from cultured cells from woolly mammoth and African elephant DNA) two years ago in a publicity stunt to showcase the potential of its technology — though no one was able to try it.
Are the environmental and ethical claims valid?
The creators of Vow say they originally designed the product to address global food shortages, where current systems are not producing enough food to feed a growing global population.
However, Ms Dinsmoor admits that cell-cultured meat is not currently a viable alternative to conventional farmed meat, as it could not yet be produced on a large enough scale.
“I would love to say it is, but that facility you see behind me is actually the largest operating meat farming facility in the world.
"And right now what you see here, while impressive, can't feed the whole of Australia, let alone many other countries," he tells The Business, from Vow's factory in inner Sydney, where a giant bioreactor is currently "growing" meat cells for their product.
Academics are calling for less meat to save the planet.
Should consumers eat less meat to save the planet, or is the beef industry leading the way in sustainable food production?
Other key industry claims include that lab-grown meat is more environmentally friendly, as it does not require large agricultural areas to raise animals, and that it is more ethical, as the animal does not need to be slaughtered to produce the meat.
The University's biotechnology researcher Monash, Paul Wood, says that currently the process of producing lab-grown meat is quite energy-intensive.
“So unless you use fully renewable energy, then you are not going to be more sustainable on an energy basis.”
Will people eat lab-grown meat?
Apart from issues such as product safety and ethical claims, the other key question is commercial: will people buy it?
The teacher Marinova University's Curtin studies cell-cultured meat and consumer opinions.
“This is something new and usually people try it once, but there is no guarantee that they will continue to consume it over and over again. And that is where success lies, in this return consumption.”
"People are curious… but whether they will persist with this option when there are other alternatives is something the industry should be prepared to respond to in a way that can attract, retain and sustain consumer interest."
He says there is still a degree of hesitation or uncertainty about the product, even now that it has been approved for sale by the food regulator.
"They are not sure what the substance of the product is and how it will affect them in terms of their personal health."
Professor Marinova has spoken mainly to Generation Z consumers, who, she says, are "not at all sure" about the product, yet.
“They are quite innovative as a generation… they are actually quite curious, they are quite hospitable and they are open to new food choices.
"As long as we have the right messages and the right information, they can probably be persuaded. But for now, they are not."
He says that for younger consumers, the perception that the product is more environmentally friendly was a key selling point.
"Most of these businesses are based on the environmental concerns that people have, because there is a greater awareness of the high environmental footprint of the food choices that we have, and meat and red meat in particular have very, very high greenhouse gas emissions, land use."
Vow's Ellen Dinsmoor says the carbon footprint of cell-based meat had the potential to be lower, given that it could be produced in a city-center lab like theirs.
"From a shipping perspective, I can pick it up and ship it to a grocery store. It's much more sustainable than something that could maybe be shipped overseas."
Sustainability depends on cost and scale, expert says
The high costs and energy consumption associated with making lab-grown meat at this stage have meant it is largely a niche product, according to Professor Wood.
“I always said it would remain a niche product – a niche product in high-value markets.”
He says the industry has recently faced challenges from cost pressures and declining investor interest in the alternative meat sector.
“I think the biggest problem is cost and scale. It’s an expensive product to produce. You need special equipment, you need expensive media [the liquid chemicals in which the cells are grown].”
Some start-ups will find scaling up a challenge due to high production costs and a lack of funding interest in the sector at the moment, notes Professor Wood.
“We’re down to probably about 10% of the capital that was available a year or two ago… capital has dried up and it’s across the alternative protein market in general, but cellular agriculture has suffered from that.”
Are plant-based foods as healthy as we hope?
If you're thinking about buying plant-based food, there are plant-based burgers, sausages, and ground beef. Refrigerators are stocked with non-dairy milk, cheese, and yogurt. Then there are canned beans and packets of tofu. But how healthy is it really?
Ms Dinsmoor vow confirms the decrease in investment interest.
“Food technology is not the right space right now — artificial intelligence is, especially because the plant-based sector, which we are often lumped in with, has not been doing well in recent years,” he says.
Based on the current course, the professor Wood he said the global market could shrink further as companies merge.
"I think we've reached about 170 companies around the world. We're already seeing some of these companies either closing or being acquired," he noted.
The teacher Dora Marinova believes that lab-grown meat will likely remain as a supplemental food product, rather than completely replacing conventionally farmed meat.
"I would see it as something that diversifies consumer choices rather than a complete transition from animals to lab-grown meat."
While vow, based in Sydney, had plans to develop based on approvals from the Food Standards Australia, earlier this year was forced to lay off 25% of its staff.
“Right now, we don’t have the time or budget to double research and development,” Ms. explained. Dinsmoor.
"Most of the people affected by these layoffs in January were scientists, engineers, many of whom had been with the company since its early days.
"At this point, however, we have shifted to focus solely on bringing these products to market and scaling them."
He says the company hopes to sell at a profitable margin within the first few months of launching the quail product in Australia this year.
photo bublikhaus, Image license by freepik.com
