Scientists unveiled a giant lab-grown meatball from a woolly mammoth, an extinct species, in Amsterdam on Tuesday, saying the ball of protein from the past paves the way for foods of the future.
The dish was displayed under a glass dome by the Australian cultured meat company Vow, at the NEMO science museum in the Dutch capital.
But the pachyderm polpette isn’t ready to eat yet: The thousands-year-old protein has yet to pass safety tests before it can be gobbled up by modern humans.
“We chose woolly mammoth meat because it’s a symbol of loss, wiped out by previous climate change,” says Vow co-founder Tim Noakesmith. “We face a similar fate if we don’t do things differently, like changing practices like large-scale farming and the way we eat,” he adds.
Mammoth protein, elephant gene and sheep cell
Cultured for several weeks, the meat was crafted by scientists who first identified the DNA sequence of mammoth myoglobin, the protein that gives meat its flavor.
Filling in some gaps in the mammoth myoglobin sequence using genes from the African elephant, the closest living relative of the mammoth, it was then inserted into sheep cells using electrical filler.
“I’m not going to eat it now because we haven’t seen this protein in 4,000 years,” says Ernst Wolvetang of the Australian Institute of Bioengineering at the University of Queensland, who collaborated with Vow. “But after the safety tests, I would be very curious to see what it looks like,” he adds.
Expected increase in global meat consumption
Global meat consumption has nearly doubled since the early 1960s, according to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Livestock accounts for about 14.5% of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the FAO. Meat consumption is expected to increase by more than 70% by 2050, with scientists increasingly turning to alternatives like plant-based meats and lab-grown meat.
The Sydney-based startup Vow of Tim Noakesmith, who calls himself a “failed vegan,” is not about stopping people from eating meat, but about “giving them something better.”
“We chose to make a mammoth meatball to draw attention to the fact that the future of food can be better and more sustainable,” he says.
Source: BFM TV
