Wagyu beef, also known as “Japanese beef”, is a high-quality and extremely expensive beef, known for its dense marbling and high levels of unsaturated fats. The marbling not only gives the meat its distinctive texture but also its rich flavor. However, modern cattle farming methods are often considered unsustainable because they release large amounts of toxic emissions into the environment.
Delicious, expensive Wagyu beef on the grill (Photo: Internet)
Scientists at Osaka University have been working on culturing meat to create a more sustainable product, using stem cells isolated from Wagyu cattle to create a 3D-printed meat substitute that contains muscle, fat and blood vessels arranged in the same way as regular beef.
They isolated beef cells and arranged the muscles, blood vessels and fat on top of each other, then shaped these tissues into the shape of a steak using a technique called 3D bioprinting. The cell structures are layered to mimic real tissues in a living organism.
Michiya Matsusaki, one of the project's researchers, says that with these technological techniques, customers could one day order a cultured meat product with the amount of fat they desire, cooked to their needs, and good for their health.
This is considered the first successful 3D printing of Wagyu beef, in addition to scientists' previous attempts to create a steak using a bioprinter. In February this year, Aleph Farms and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology collaborated to bioprint and grow Ribeye steak using real cow cells.
However, at this point, scientists still cannot know clearly the taste of 3D printed Wagyu beef because according to The Washington Post, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not yet created a legal framework for these products.
