NovaMeat presents version 2.0 of its 3D printed steak
The Barcelona startup NovaMeat has just unveiled version 2.0 of its plant-based 3D printed steak! Having presented its first product to the public last year, the startup has continued to develop and improve on its vegan meat alternative. Its aim is to support a more humane and sustainable global food system through this initiative.
Giuseppe Scionti, the founder of NovaMeat, explained that what is particularly hard to simultaneously achieve with plant-based meat is texture, taste, appearance and nutritional value: the four parameters that define the successfulness of a meat alternative if you will. For example, plant-based ground meat exists, it looks and tastes like mince beef but the texture of meat hasn’t been nailed. To achieve these four parameters, the startup holds a patent on the microstrain that imitates the natural texture of meat tissue. Essentially, NovaMeat’s technology manages to reorganize the nanofibers from vegetables’ proteins to make them seem like animal proteins.
The plant-based meat is modeled on CAD software and later 3D printed | Credits: NovaMeat
An increasing number of companies have been developing meat alternatives, however not many are using 3D printing technologies to do so. Recently, a new version of NovaMeat’s 3D printed steak was unveiled, showing impressive improvements in texture and appearance. Moreover, the startup revealed that costs are also dropping, costing around US$1.5 to produce 50 grams. In terms of ingredients used, the plant-based protein is extracted from rice, peas and algae fibres. Additionally, it contains natural plant-based colourants like paella for appearance, and some fats such as olive, canola and coconut oil in their food paste formulation. The next step will be to make improvements in taste and nutritional value to truly offer an alternative that can compete with meat.
The use of 3D printing for NovaMeat’s mission began thanks to a quick realization: if bioprinting could be used to recreate the texture of human tissue, the same concept could be applied to animal meat. In fact, Giuseppe Scionti worked for many years at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in Barcelona on prototyping a human ear before deciding to create NovaMeat in 2018. Thanks to his combined experience in tissue engineering and 3D printing and his vision of a new meat alternative, he was able to bring this concept to life.
NovaMeat is not the only company working on 3D printed plant-based meat. We’ve followed the developments of Redefine Meat, based in Israel that has also been working on developing a 3D printed alternative. Recently, the company 3D printed slaughter-free meat on board of the ISS, showcasing the advancements that are possible for this space. Of course, for both companies some milestones remain such as the issue of scaling up and commercialization. NovaMeat hopes that the restaurant sector will be interested first, building partnerships with companies and ultimately licensing their technology to sustainable food manufacturers will be the next step! You can find more information HERE.
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