UK’s first fillet of cultivated meat produced: Newcastle company raises the pork 'steaks'

Biotech investor, BSF Enterprise, announced last week that it made the first lab-grown pork fillet in the UK, saying the result "exceeded expectations in appearance, taste and texture", according to Alliance News.

The steak was made of structured cultivated meat at the laboratory of wholly owned subsidiary 3D Bio-Tissues in Newcastle. It used 3DBT's serum-free and animal-free cell booster, City-mixTM.

"The fillet of pork was subsequently cooked and eaten by 3D Bio-Tissues' management team," BSF noted.

The success represents an important development milestone, BSF said, and 3DBT now will produce a showcase product to be presented, cooked and eaten at a public event in coming months.

"This is a significant scientific breakthrough which has very positive implications not just for BSF and 3DBT but also for the UK and the cultivated meat industry as a whole," commented Dr Che Connon, Chief Executive, 3DBT.

“We are absolutely delighted with the look, taste and texture of our cultivated pork, which is the first time we have fully sampled our product. Our cruelty-free fillet has exceeded our expectations in all respects, and we are extremely excited about the technological progress we are making and the impact this could have upon our industry."

"City-mix, our serum-free media in which we cultivated the fillet, is helping to greatly reduce the cost of cultivated meat such that it may become economically viable in the near future. At the same time our 'structure without scaffold' technology is helping to make cultivated meat that more closely resembles traditional meat in every respect, without the need for plant-based additives. We look forward to taking the findings through to the next stage of development, focused on producing a chef-ready product for public consumption," Dr Connon added.