---
title: "For the First Time, a Startup Grew a Steak in a Lab"
description: "## High Steaks"
date: "2018-12-13"
modified: "2018-12-13"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/lab-grown-steak-aleph-farms"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "aleph farms"
  - "fake meat"
  - "lab grown meat"
  - "the digest"
---

# For the First Time, a Startup Grew a Steak in a Lab

![Israeli startup Aleph Farms has unveiled what appears to be the world's first lab-grown steak, a cut of meat produced from cells taken from a live animal.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/lab-grown-steak-aleph-farms.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Aleph Farms\</em\>*

## High Steaks

An Israeli startup appears to have achieved a landmark accomplishment in the fake meat industry: lab-grown steak.

On Wednesday, Aleph Farms [announced](<https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aleph-farms-jump-starts-first-cell-grown-steak-300764157.html>) that it had grown a steak in a lab using cells extracted from a living cow. In a [video](<https://youtu.be/1Mz5rVj2Qsc>) shared alongside the announcement, a chef cooks up what *looks* like a regular beef steak, albeit one on the smaller side.

"The initial products are still relatively thin," Aleph Farms CEO Didier Toubia acknowledges in a press release, "but the technology we developed marks a true breakthrough and a great leap forward in producing a cell-grown steak."

## Fresh Meat

It's been five years since the public reveal of the first [lab-grown hamburger](<https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/science/engineering-the-325000-in-vitro-burger.html>). Since then, researchers have been able to dramatically improve upon the process of [growing meat](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/clean-meat-y-combinator>). What they haven't been able to do is replicate the texture and structure of the specific cuts you'd find at a butcher.

"Making a patty or a sausage from cells cultured outside the animal is challenging enough," Toubia said. "Imagine how difficult it is to create a whole-muscle steak."

But that's what Aleph Farms has seemingly done.

The key was finding a nutrient combination that would encourage the extracted animal cells to grow into a tissue structure comparable to that found in an actual cow. The company managed this using a bio-engineering platform co-developed with the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

https://youtu.be/1Mz5rVj2Qsc

## The Real Question

In an [interview](<https://www.businessinsider.com/aleph-farms-israeli-startup-makes-first-lab-grown-clean-steak-meat-photos-video-2018-12?curator=TechREDEF>) published by *Business Insider* on Wednesday, Toubia revealed that a steak like the one highlighted in Aleph Farms's video takes two to three weeks to grow and costs about $50.

He also answered the question no doubt on the mind of anyone who watched the video of his company's lab-grown steak sizzling in a skillet: whether it tastes good.

"The smell was great when we cooked it, exactly the same characteristic flavor as a conventional meat cut," Toubia said. "It was a little bit chewy, same as meat. We saw and felt the fibers when we cut it with a knife."

**READ MORE:** [An Israeli Startup With Ties to America's Most Popular Hummus Brand Says It Made the World's First Lab-Grown Steak — a Holy Grail for the Industry](<https://www.businessinsider.com/aleph-farms-israeli-startup-makes-first-lab-grown-clean-steak-meat-photos-video-2018-12?curator=TechREDEF>) \[*Business Insider*\]

***More on lab-grown meat: [We’re About to Get Many More Meat Alternatives](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/clean-meat-y-combinator>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)