Aleph Farms Completes First Slaughter-free Meat Experiment in Space
REHOVOT, Israel, Oct. 7, 2019 (Aleph Farms) — Aleph Farms, a food company that grows cultivated beef steaks, announces today it has successfully taken “one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind” in producing meat on the International Space Station, 248 miles (339 km) away from any natural resources.
Through an international collaboration set to reach new heights with 3D Bioprinting Solutions (Russia), which develops implementations of 3D bioprinting technologies, Meal Source Technologies (USA) and Finless Foods (USA)— Aleph Farms, co-founded with the food-tech incubator The Kitchen, and Prof. Shulamit Levenberg of the Technion university, is making a significant progress toward fulfilling its promise: to enable on Earth unconditional access to safe and nutritious meat anytime, anywhere, while using minimal resources.
Aleph Farms’ production method of cultivated beef steaks relies on mimicking a natural process of muscle-tissue regeneration occurring inside the cow’s body, but under controlled conditions. Within the framework of this experiment on the 26th of September on the Russian segment of the ISS, a successful proof of concept has been established in assembling a small-scale muscle tissue in a 3D bioprinter developed by 3D Bioprinting Solutions, under micro-gravity conditions.
This cutting-edge research in some of the most extreme environments imaginable, serves as an essential growth indicator of sustainable food production methods that don’t exacerbate land waste, water waste, and pollution. These methods aimed at feeding the rapidly growing population, predicted to reach 10 billion individuals by 2050.
In an historic report published on the 10th of September 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the United Nations, has emphasized the integral contribution of the conventional animal farming methods on climate change, creating “a challenging situation worse and undermining food security.”
The 107 authors who contributed to the report have shed light on climate change effects on land, especially desertification, land degradation, and diminishing availability of food supplies.
“In space, we don’t have 10,000 or 15,000 Liter (3962.58 Gallon) of water available to produce one Kg (2.205 Pound) of beef,” says Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. “This joint experiment marks a significant first step toward achieving our vision to ensure food security for generations to come, while preserving our natural resources. This keystone of human achievement in space follows Yuri Gagarin’s success of becoming the first man to journey into outer space, and Neil Armstrong’s 50th anniversary this year, celebrating the moment when the first man walked on space,” Toubia concludes.
“The mission of providing access to high-quality nutrition anytime, anywhere in a sustainable way is an increasing challenge for all humans,” adds Jonathan Berger, CEO of The Kitchen. “On Earth or up above, we count on innovators like Aleph Farms to take the initiative to provide solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as the climate crisis.”
About Aleph Farms
Aleph Farms is a food company and global leader in the cultivated meat industry. Comprised by a passionate and devoted team of professionals, the company is making tangible impact in solving humanity’s greatest challenges today, including climate change and food shortages. At Aleph Farms, high-quality food products are produced with full transparency throughout every step of the process. The company, aiming at reshaping the trillion-dollar global animal-protein market, and the very way society eats meat, reported in May 2019 a $12M Series-A investment round led by VisVires New Protein (VVNP), Singapore; with Cargill, USA; and M-Industry – the industrial group of Migros, Switzerland, as new investors. Existing investors also joined this round include Strauss Group, Israel; Peregrine Ventures, Israel; CPT Capital, UK; Jesselson investments, Israel; New Crop Capital, USA and Technion Investment Opportunity Fund, Israel.
About 3D Bioprinting Solutions
3D Bioprinting Solutions is a Laboratory for Biotechnological Research founded by INVITRO, the largest private medical company in Russia. 3D Bioprinting develops and produces bioprinters and materials for 3D bioprinting, and develops innovative technologies in the field of biofabrication.
To learn more visit: https://bioprinting.ru/en
23 responses to “Aleph Farms Completes First Slaughter-free Meat Experiment in Space”
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Pretty neat. If it’s fast enough, it’d be welcome on a Moon or Mars base to supplement stored food supplies and cultivated food.
Yes, this is a very important step for space settlement.
Uh… I suppose. But y’know, it’s been 50 years, almost 60, since humans started going up in rockets and pretending that’s there some sort of future in space for humanity. And you’d think in all that time, we’d have at least some experiments to see if livestock can be bred and reproduced and brought to maturity and eventually consumed, either in orbit or places like the Moon. And best I can see, we’ve got nothing. Nada. Bupkis.
You think, a thousand years from now, we’ll have a hundred billion people spread over the bigger moons and smaller planets of the solar system and aiming at the stars … and we’re all going to be living on 3-D printed beefsteak and stuff coming out of tubes?
[cue Dr. Strangelove] “Animals could be bred, and slaughtered!” 🙂
Or replicators ?
Actually it is just the next step in a process of food being produced more efficiently, from hunting wild animals to domesticated animals to factory farms. In a hundred years it will normal on Earth as well in space.
My experience with syn-meats is they’re so high in sodium the colonists would die of heart disease or systemic edema before the radiation go to them. Need it for taste.
Ground beef: 70mg
Impossible burger: 570mg
Beyond burger: 380mg
It’s a work that is in progress, just as PCs were in the 1970’s and 1980’s. But the important thing is that it is reaching the tipping point of iterative improvements that will drive it forward.
And don’t forget that raising animals for meat is a significance source of greenhouse gases since the end of the Ice Age. Some climate researchers believe it help tipped the balance towards creating the current interglacial era we are in now.
By that time it won’t be just the people in space living that way. Most of what we eat now would be unrecognizable to Americans of as little as a century ago.
Of course, we could just eat vegetables.
But, nice step. Most people are going to want at least some meat, and insect paste ain’t gonna cut it
Humans can’t survive without B12, so there will be no vegan civilisation anywhere
And yet, vegans survive all around you. It’s called a multivitamin 🙂
Good ol’ Centrum meets the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for one, while Centrum Silver doubles that to meet the US FDA’s DV (Daily Value).
Or fortified soy milk, or nutritional yeast, or an energy bar with b12, etc.
B12 is an issue, but not at all an insurmountable barrier.
Meanwhile, I’m not necessarily saying we have to meet any absolutist vegan purity test while out on the final frontier. But really, very little in the way of animal products needs to be involved. People are doing it (vegetarian) every day, from the gal at your local coffee shop to Sir Paul McCartney, to musician/astrophysicist Brian May, to lovely actress Christina Applegate, to TV host Jon Stewart, to some of your fellow bloggers, to past greats like Leonardo Da Vinci, religious/political leader Gandhi, businessman/entrepreneur Steve Jobs, novelist Leo Tolstoy, and, well, on and on.
And, not necessarily for Michael Vaicaitis, but for those who might want to jump on the bona fides of one or more of the people from my little list, the point isn’t whether the list or the people on the list are perfect, the point is, lots of people, including some you might have never even suspected, don’t eat meat. Meat is not needed to settle space. But, I do understand that not having meat would be a big barrier for many, and so we will have that insect paste 😀
Or actually, lab grown meat as in this article – like I said, this kind of thing is a nice advancement. There aren’t going to be vast cattle ranges or even animal farms with long rows of stacks of animals in tight cages; not to mention the attendant grain silos, slaughter houses, butcheries and meat lockers; off Earth any time soon
Well if nutrients are available from other sources, then why print “meat” in space?
Humans have evolved large brains by being carnivores. Whether or not artificial meat can serve as a suitable and effective replacement will have to be seen.
Eating plants (all of which contain some toxins) and supplements will work for short-term pioneering or working in space, but building new civilisations on it may turn out to be problematic.
You keep saying humans are carnivores. We’re not carnivores, we’re omnivores. Seriously – look at your dinner plate tonight. If it is in fact largely covered with meat, you might want to consider what you mentioned in relation to vegans: “a fast track to bad health outcomes”
I’m not talking as some kind of vegan activist here, I’m talking like just a healthy diet.
From the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans*
Key Recommendations
Consume a healthy eating pattern that accounts for all foods and beverages within an appropriate calorie level. A healthy eating pattern includes:[
– A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups—dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy, and other
– Fruits, especially whole fruits
– Grains, at least half of which are whole grains
– Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages
– A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), and nuts, seeds, and soy products
– Oils
*American Medical Association’s associated statement:
“The AMA commends the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for its work to develop the newest Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines) based on its thorough review of the latest scientific evidence available. We support the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines that were released today and we believe that the new recommendations will help more Americans gain access to the resources they need to adopt a healthy diet and lead healthier lives.”
Yes, my once a day dinner plate does indeed consist almost entirely of animal sourced foods. Estimates vary, but about two-thirds to three-quarters of adult Americans suffer from diabetes (or are pre-diabetic) as well as the other diseases of metabolic syndrome. So take advice from Dietary Guideline organisations if you wish, but don’t expect any science to be included.
Nitrogen isotope analysis is quite conclusive that the recent human evolutionary heritage had diets consisting very substantially of other animals. Early hominins may well have evolved from herbivores which explains our tolerance for some plants. Modern fruits and vegetables have been extensively bred to be more palatable (though less nutritious) than their original species. So the vast majority of plants in the modern human diet would not have been available to our evolutionary ancestors or to early humans. Humans cannot digest and extract energy from tubers without cooking and even grains must at least be soaked and sprouted, and so both would have been off the menu until just a few ten of thousands of years ago.
Apart from the reduced bio-availability, all plants contain toxins of some sort or other, since they have been in constant chemical warfare with insects for the last five hundred million years. So it is not just the high carbohydrate content of most plants that is bad for you.
The latest up to date science, including what randomised controlled trials of diet there are come out heavily in favour of low carb high fat diets, preferably based on animal sourced foods. Most of these diets might be placed under the general umbrella of ketogenic diets. There is little to no scientific evidence to support “the standard american diet”.
Okay, man
It is a shame that the science of nutrition is not of any interest to you – perhaps critical thinking has developed a fatty liver.
It’s as though the american heart foundation told you that rockets cannot be recovered and reused and you believed them.
Government nutrition advice since WW2 has been responsible for more premature death than the war. It’s mostly a lot of non-scientific claptrap and that is finally beginning to be realized – though not yet by you it would seem.
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but it’s Seven Day Adventists (most famously Kellogg Cornflakes as a cure for masturbation) in collaboration with the corn industry that have driven government advice so far in the wrong direction – moral and financial corruption in perfect harmony https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Meat is useless without the fat.
The high carbohydrate experiment is already an unmitigated disaster. Vegetarian is hardly nominal and veganism is a fast track to bad health outcomes.
You’d have thought the three million years as carnivores to evolve a large brain and small colon would have been a big enough clue.
True. Though adding fat hardly seems to be a showstopper.
as long as its saturated animal fat
There are, doubtless, lab-growable microorganisms that will happily crank out saturated animal fat all the livelong day. And if there aren’t, we can make some. It’s not like there aren’t potential markets for such things right here on Earth as well as in space. Slaughter-free beef tallow to put back in the McDonald’s fryer fat should make some vegan heads explode.
In principle I’m not against “slaughter-free” food products, but the Earth needs large herds of grazing animals. Given the seemingly logical message of well meaning environmental groups this Allan Savoury TED talk is a real counter-intuitive tour de force https://www.youtube.com/wat…