Budget-friendly, lab-grown steak with realistic texture

A team of Israeli scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a novel method to significantly lower the production costs of cultivated meat. The new study demonstrates that preloading plant-derived cellulose scaffolds with growth factors supports the cost-efficient proliferation and differentiation of bovine stem cells. By binding these vital proteins directly to an anisotropic, directionally frozen framework instead of dispersing them in liquid media, this method achieves high-quality tissue development using up to 10 times fewer expensive factors. Upon multi-week cultivation and subsequent pan-frying, the cell-bound constructs show partially similar mechanical and visual responses to traditional sirloin cuts.