Have you tried the Impossible Whopper at Burger King yet? In my opinion it’s pretty impressive and these products are popping up everywhere.  You don’t see slaughter-free ribeye on the market though.  This is because the texture of ground meat products are relatively easy to mimic as compared to fully-textured meat such as a steak. The company Aleph Farms is trying to change this and if that wasn’t hard enough they’re doing it in space!

Their process takes actual bovine cell samples and grows them in a bioreactor.  These cells can then be combined in a 3D bioprinting process to more fully mimic the texture of meat.  Below is a quote from Aleph’s CEO and co-founder, Didier Toubia, describing their unique process to Business Insider:

“We’re the only company that has the capacity to make fully-textured meat that includes muscle fibers and blood vessels — all the components that provide the necessary structure and connections for the tissue,”

It’s great to see the footprint of this industry expand, giving consumers more choices in the protein they consume without having to sacrifice quality.  It’s also yet another great example of how 3D printing is so much more than plastic prototypes.