Cows are delighted.
University of Tokyo researchers have grown beef in a lab, reports Nature.
While only a tiny morsel, the steak-like object paves the way to large-scale, lab-grown beef production.
Scientists' past efforts to grow beef in a lab have produced only a mince no discerning consumer would eat.
But the Tokyo University team has matched the real thing, growing cow cells in long strands that resemble muscle fibers.
When the researchers stimulated the cultured cells with electricity, the strands contracted, the way real muscles do.
“We have developed steak," lead researcher Shoji Takeuchi says.
Takeuchi's team plans next to introduce fat and blood into the morsel, "to make the meat more realistic."
Takeuchi's team plans next to introduce fat and blood into the morsel, "to make the meat more realistic."
No one has tried eating the product, because the University of Tokyo's bioethics committee has yet to approve that step.
