The world's first lab-grown sausage has been approved for consumption - Food Files

Apr 25, 2024

Lab-grown meat might be the future of food, but is it a bridge too far for consumers?

Lab grown meat may sound like something out of a sci-fi novel but it is now a reality for consumers who are looking for an ethical alternative to traditional farmed protein.

It is the sausage in particular that has got the food world in a bit of a stir now that Dutch food company Meatable has created the world’s first lab-raised pork sausage. So, is it a banger?

According to European taste-testers, the sausage is, well, sausagey. Made up of 28 percent pork fat, grown from cells of a fertilised pig egg, and bulked out with textured pea, chickpea, soy and wheat protein, the sausages are deceptive and very convincing.

The skin of the sausage caramelises and renders, just as a “real” sausage would, and emits the same sizzle aroma as your Sunday Bunnings snag. Sounds pretty good to us.

Meatable pork sausage

What is lab-grown meat?

Essentially, lab-grown meat utilises stem-cell technology to replicate protein cells to grow edible meat products.

The recipe for lab-grown – or “cultured” – meat is to take a biopsy from a live, or recently slaughtered animal, nurture the cells in a nutrient bath so they multiply, coax them to differentiate into mature muscle or fat, and then arrange the muscle cells to get them to bind into fibres.

How does lab-grown meat taste?

Because lad-grown meat is a genetic replica of living animals, the taste should in theory reflect how the original animal tasted. Environmental factors such as the animal’s diet, the aging process, how the muscles were exercised all play a role in traditional butchery which cannot be replicated in a lab.

However, texture is one of the biggest challenges that meat-alternatives have faced. Lab-grown muscle strands are arranged in order mimic the real deal, due to this arranging and binding of fibres, certain meats are more challenging than others to replicate. For instance, to arrange muscle fibres into an authentic cut of steak presents more difficulties than a more free-form minced meat, or sausage.

Forged by Vow

Where can you find lab-grown meat?

The slaughter-free sausages join a herd of lab-grown meat gaining traction around the globe, including Sydney-based company Vow. Their application for cell-cultured quail meat has successfully passed the assessment criteria required to introduce the product to consumers and now supply a series of restaurants in Singapore with their quail parfait.

Is lab-grown meat better for the planet?

With a literal planet-full of edible plants, it begs the question as to whether we really need another meat product, and whether it is in fact ethical to pour billions of dollars into an industry aiming to replicate what we already have. High production costs, regulatory hurdles, playing God, and the general weirdness of animal products grown in a petri dish might be the stumbling blocks toward mainstream lab meat consumption but if it looks like a quail and acts like a quail, perhaps it’s worth a shot.