South Korean scientists have developed a new food product – “meaty” rice enriched with lab-grown beef muscle and fat cells – which they say could become an affordable and environmentally friendly source of protein, on Wednesday, the 14th of February, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
In the process, the rice was first coated with fish gelatine to help the beef cells attach to the rice, then grown for up to 11 days, the media outlet said.
This “meaty” hybrid rice is slightly harder and more fragile than regular rice, but contains more protein. Researchers at Yonsei University in South Korea claim that
this rice has 8% more protein and 7% more fat than regular rice.
In addition, the production process of this rice produces a smaller carbon footprint – less than 6.27kg of carbon dioxide is emitted for every 100g of protein, compared to beef production, which produces around 49.89kg of carbon dioxide for the same amount of protein.
Sohyeon Park, a researcher involved in the project, was surprised by how well the cells in the rice grew, highlighting the potential of “meaty” rice. Park claimed that the levels of nutrients in rice were already high, but that livestock cells were only improving these levels.
According to the media outlet, since the first lab-grown burger was introduced in London in 2013, many companies around the world have joined the effort to create affordable lab-grown or cultured meat products. Last year, for example, Singapore launched the world’s first lab-grown chicken product.
Critics point out that there is nothing synthetic about lab-grown meat – it is produced by growing natural cells.
Professor Neil Ward of the University of East Anglia saw potential in the search for a healthier and more climate-friendly diet but stressed that the public must first be convinced. He believed that the greatest potential lay in replacing processed meat.
Bridget Benelam of the UK Nutrition Foundation said that developing food that promote the health of both people and the planet is a big challenge and the research is an innovative approach.
She pointed out that the protein content of rice has increased relatively little and said that further work on this study is needed to use rice as an alternative source of protein to traditional animal products.
Also read: Germany becomes world’s third largest economy as Japan falls into recession
Follow us on Facebook and X!